


Sacrifice

by Arigatomina



Series: Sacrifice Universe [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:58:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 159,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arigatomina/pseuds/Arigatomina
Summary: NaruSasu Yaoi. The Uchiha clan has to make peace with Konoha after years of enmity. To ensure the truce, they hand over one of their own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: This plot bunny has been driving me crazy. It won't leave me alone. So I'm writing to shut it up. Don't expect too much from this fic. Aside from smut. There'll be plenty of that.  
> Summary: The Uchiha clan has to make peace with Konoha after years of enmity. To ensure the truce, they hand over one of their own.  
> Warnings: will be hard yaoi  
> Pairing: NarutoxSasuke NaruSasuNaru

Sasuke was vaguely aware of the conflicts his clan had taken part in over the years. As the youngest son, he had spent most of his life away from the clan, being trained by whatever group they were currently working for. Information was deadly and had no place in the head of a youngest son. Expendable. He had gotten accustomed to that very early. Then, at age twelve, his position in the clan had changed radically. He had developed the Sharingan during a suicide mission. Instead of being disposed of on the battlefield, he was called home. He was trained. He was watched. He heard things.

Whispers at first. Something about Itachi, his father's competence, Sand and Sound, and finally, Konoha.

The clan had settled on the outskirts of the Sand village years ago. Sasuke had spent his time as an expendable genin being trained by Sand. Sound, he knew more recently. That was the village that had hired him and his now deceased team for that suicide mission. He had known immediately that they were being used as a distraction. They had been sent against an Anbu team with one goal. To slow them down. He had guessed the rest. Sound had probably infiltrated another village, been caught in the act, and needed a handy distraction to give their men time to escape. He had been the only Uchiha member on his team. The others had been genin hired from whatever allies Sound had been able to scrounge up. He had survived. They had died. And as far as he knew, the mission was a success because he was sent home without a single reprimand from Sound. He didn't know how that was related to Sand. Sand and Sound had been off and on and off-again allies for years. As for Konoha, he knew very little. The clan had come from there originally. They had left due to some dispute about the leader of that village. He didn't remember any of that. He had been an infant, and by the time he was old enough to wonder, he knew better than to ask.

The whispers started days after his return. People stared at him as he followed his father on the street. People he barely knew or didn't know at all. Relatives. He was taught their names, their ranks, their positions in the clan. He was introduced to the elders, a group of five he had only seen from a distance. Wizened old men who grumbled under their breaths to each other when his father issued orders. He learned that each of the elders had gained his position in the clan because he or one of his descendants had produced the sharingan. One of them was his grandfather on his mother's side, who had become an elder when Itachi had produced the sharingan at age six and become the undisputed heir of the clan. They looked at him the same way they had looked at Itachi. Jealousy, resentment, disbelief, grudging respect. Rarely had the sharingan shown in more than one member of a single family unit. With Sasuke, his father's reputation was beyond reproach. Not one son, but two. Both at an unheard of age. Just the bargaining chip his father had been looking for. Sasuke didn't find out why until four years later, when things fell apart.

It began with a rumor. 'Itachi's done it again.' Everyone was saying it, angry and worried enough that they didn't bother lowering their voices when he was near. He heard it again and again until he couldn't stand being kept ignorant anymore. The first person he asked stared at him in disgust and walked away. The second told him to mind his business and kissed his forehead before sending him to his room. He should have known better than to ask his mother anything concerning Itachi. She loved him. She didn't feel sick to her stomach when she was near him the way Sasuke did. She didn't know instinctively that there was something very wrong with him the way Sasuke did. She was loyal. He envied that. He wanted desperately to be loyal. He just couldn't get rid of his instinct that being loyal to Itachi was being disloyal to the clan itself. Itachi or the clan? He chose the clan every time.

The third person he asked wasn't a member of the Uchiha clan. He was a jounin from Sand who had been training him exclusively for the last four years. Sasuke hadn't been allowed to leave the village since his return as a sharingan holder. He was no longer expendable. And now, his teacher told him in confidence, he was a potential replacement for Itachi. What the clan hadn't decided yet was whether he would be a better or worse replacement. At the moment it appeared things couldn't get any worse than they were. Itachi had led them against Konoha. Again.

"Why does that matter?" asked Sasuke. "Sand is our only long-term ally." He immediately wished he hadn't said anything. The look his teacher gave him was the same disgusted one that first person had gifted him with. It demanded, 'How can you not know this?' and left him hating his own family for keeping him so ignorant.

"Sand is allied with Konoha," his teacher told him, in a pitying tone. "They have been for the last five years. Don't you know who were up against in that mission for Sound?"

"I was a genin," Sasuke said coldly. Barely a genin, teamed with a dozen equally ignorant and expendable children.

"And an Uchiha," the man grimaced. He turned away, as if he couldn't look at him and say the rest. "Your brother infiltrated Konoha along with that Sound team. If he'd been caught, Sand would have taken the blame. And the first thing we would have done in retaliation is wipe out your entire clan. He knew that. Your clan knew that. He did it anyway. We had already broken our alliance with Sound when he took part in that infiltration. He knew that, too. You're the only reason Sand stood down. If those Anbu had discovered your brother, the most recognizable Uchiha, an ally of Sand, it would have meant war. War between us and your clan, especially with Itachi having made some underhanded pact with Sound behind our backs. We would have sided with Konoha against you."

"Why didn't you?" Sasuke asked. He didn't particularly care anymore. So many things made sense now. He had been the only Uchiha member of that suicide team because he was expendable and no one would recognize him. His father had sent him out there to cover Itachi's tracks. And he hadn't even had the consideration to tell him he was being sacrificed for the good of the clan - rather than for the petty amount Sound had paid for him to join that team.

"You," his teacher said again. Now he turned slightly, to look at him from the corner of his eye. "Not only did you single-handedly hold them off-"

"I wasn't alone," Sasuke cut in, his eyes narrow glints. He hadn't known the children who had made up his team, but they had been a team. He had watched them fall one by one. None of them had run. None of them had quit. They had died messily doing their best, for a paltry sum that wouldn't feed a single person for more than a week, let alone the families they had left behind. They hadn't been like him. They had been desperate for a mission, any paying mission. He had simply been following his father's orders.

"Who was with you?" the man scoffed. "A dozen brats scraped up at the last minute? Don't defend Sound to me. They have no lasting allies. They hire mercenaries, missing nin, and starving children whose parents are too stupid to stop making more babies than they can feed. They should never have had access to an Uchiha. If not for Itachi and your father, they wouldn't have. The simple fact is you distracted an Anbu squad of Konoha's finest long enough for Itachi's betrayal to go unnoticed. And you survived." His upper lip curled, that same distasteful look of grudging respect Sasuke had come to expect from the elders. "We have no one under Jounin rank who could have done that. What you did was redeem your clan. With that much potential, it's better that we keep the Uchiha's close rather than allow them to flee to one of our enemies. Namely Sound. Itachi came back, you covered his betrayal and reminded us why we allied with the Uchiha clan in the first place, and we commiserated with Konoha for having been duped by a handful of nameless children at the hands of our mutual enemy, Sound."

Sasuke stared at the man who had been his teacher since his return. He had never seen this side of him before. He had wondered, more and more often, why he was being trained by a member of Sand rather than his own clan. And why this particular man was chosen as his teacher. Sasuke had surpassed him in skill two years ago and yet he was still forced to 'learn' from him as if age alone was required to teach.

"Is that why Sand has been in charge of my training?" asked Sasuke. Again, his tone was casual. He didn't care if the answer was the one he expected it would be. The only reason he asked was to see how much of that resentment he could draw out of his 'teacher' before the man snapped. He had never liked him as a teacher. And now he had lost all respect for him as a person. Starving children or trained shinobi, if they died for their village, for their family, then it was a noble sacrifice. Any Uchiha, even the squabbling elders, would have said the same. If all Sand shinobi thought like this man, his clan was better off being their enemy.

"It only took you four years to figure that out," the man laughed. It was a grating ugly sound. "Itachi has gone too far this time. He's allied himself with a missing nin from Mist, another of our enemies, in case you didn't know that, either. The two of them were seen walking through the center of Konoha in broad daylight. And do you know what they did when they were confronted?"

Sasuke stared blandly. A moment passed before his teacher grimaced and looked away from him again.

"They attacked three of Konoha's shinobi. Itachi nearly killed one of them. And for nothing! He won't even give a reason for his actions! It's over," and he snapped a pointed look at Sasuke. "Konoha is coming here. If they want Itachi's head and your father doesn't cooperate, we'll handle it ourselves. And you, ignorant obedient sharingan-holder, will be his replacement. Your elders have already agreed. Behind your father's back, naturally. It's amazing how a clan that prides itself in familial loyalty is so quick to turn on one of its own. They don't even like you. They're saying you're just like your father. That you'll end as bad as Itachi or worse. But they'll use you till they find someone better. They'll do it to save their own necks, to keep this little safehaven on the edge of our village. Do you like that? You don't have many options. You can be their pawn or ours. The reason you've been stuck training with me the last two years is because your clan doesn't want you to become another Itachi. The stronger you get, the harder it will be to control you. That's not my doing. Sand doesn't want your potential suppressed. We'll have you trained with our best, far away from these people who won't even tell you who your enemies are. You don't want to remain ignorant and weak forever, do you?"

"That's enough," Sasuke said quietly. "I would never betray my clan. If you don't know that by now, you know nothing about me." All of that dislike bubbled across his teacher's face. He took a slow step toward him and was vaguely disgusted when the man skittered back. "I don't need you. Speak to me again and I will kill you. Effortlessly. I wouldn't even have to touch you." Red bled into his eyes and his former teacher did more than skitter, he jumped away, one arm thrown up to shield his own eyes.

"Coward," Sasuke sniffed. "If you speak for Sand, you should hope I never become the Uchiha heir. Itachi might disobey the elders for his own reasons. I would do it for the good of the clan. The clan doesn't need cowards for allies. My genin team was braver than you."

He wasn't followed, but he was watched. The streets were eerily empty for midday, spotted by small huddles of people. Family, he reminded himself. Too often he thought of them as strangers who happened to share the same blood. They fell silent and watched him, hopefully, suspiciously, distastefully. Confirming everything his teacher had said against them. It wasn't as if his teacher had lied. The man had maligned the clan for good reason. They were falling apart. He and Itachi were the only sharingan users of their generation. There had been rumors of another, who had died in Konoha soon after getting the eyes. He had died a child, with no descendants or siblings. Now they had two sharingan holders, both of good blood no matter how the elders grumbled over his father's decisions. Him or Itachi. One they barely knew, the other they couldn't trust. Either way they went, there was no guarantee the clan would benefit in the long run.

His father was waiting when he returned. He was standing in the doorway as if he had been waiting for hours, tireless, resolute. Sasuke felt part of him close off when their eyes met. He had always been able to do that with his father. Lock away the memories of a time when he had loved him unconditionally. Trusted him, idolized him, determined with a child's innocence to one day make his father look at him the way he looked at Itachi. It was the part of him that had died when he had returned, a sharingan holder, and seen Itachi again for the first time in years. Itachi had changed while he was away. He had recognized it instantly. And he had been unprepared. He had looked into Itachi's eyes and lost that unconditional trust. He had never gotten it back. He refused to let the same thing happen with his father. So he locked it away, closed it off in a protected place, and met his father's gaze with empty eyes. Nothing his father said would affect him.

"You are dead," his father said.

Sasuke stopped, standing motionless halfway to the house. His lips closed in a thin line. The dead did not speak.

"I didn't want this," his father said, and he stepped out of the doorway and into the yard.

Sasuke's gaze flicked past him, eyes meeting with his mother's for a moment before she closed the door. Her eyes were too wide, too dark, her face pale and as empty as he felt. She was in shock. He didn't know whether his father had 'wanted this' or not. He knew his mother hadn't. He hoped this wouldn't break her. She had given birth to two sharingan holders. If anything happened to Itachi now, she would be expected to give birth to another. How many years would that take? He stared at the door, his expression distant and calm. Thoughts that he had crushed time and again surfaced once more. Itachi or the clan? He chose the clan. His father or the clan? No choice, his father was the clan. His mother or the clan? His mother, he hated the clan. He crushed that traitorous thought as he had every time it had forced its way into his head. It didn't matter. This wouldn't break her. She was an Uchiha. And he didn't know that defying his father in this would benefit the clan or his mother. As his teacher had made very clear, he didn't know anything.

"It wasn't my decision," his father said, now crossing the yard to stand in front of him. "They asked for you. Konoha."

His father was staring down at him with strange eyes. Sasuke met them blankly. He didn't know why his father would look so suspicious, threatened, confused. He had never seen him confused.

"Why would they ask for you?"

Sasuke didn't know, so he said nothing.

His father looked away, frowning past him at the gate. "I might have sent you myself, had it been my choice. I thought they would ask for Itachi, force us to bargain, knowing we'd never hand over our heir. The negotiations should have lasted months before they finally accepted myself or one of the elders in Itachi's place. Someone whose absence would weaken the clan. Instead they asked for you." He turned back, his eyes dark and strange. "This is better for the clan. Nothing will change with you gone. They must know that."

Sasuke remained silent. His father was staring at him as if he expected answers. Why you? That was the confusion in his eyes. What do you know about this? That was the suspicion. How will this hurt us? And that was the threatened shadow. Sasuke didn't have answers for the first two. He was no one but a potential and currently unnecessary heir. He knew nothing. As for how his death might hurt the clan, he couldn't tell his father that. Like his mother, his father refused to acknowledge that something had happened to Itachi. That something was wrong in him. That he couldn't be trusted. The elders could see it, those blood-related strangers in the street suspected it, Sasuke knew it in his bones, but his father would never willingly accept it. Sasuke could tell him now. His father was giving him a chance to say it. But to what purpose? He didn't want to be disciplined, ignored, possibly hated as a traitor in his last moments for saying the things his father already knew but refused to acknowledge.

His father placed a hand on his head, looking down at him with eyes that glinted of steel. "You are an Uchiha. Your death will avert a war and ensure the peaceful continuation of your clan. Do not resist. Die willingly and proudly. You are my son."

Words he had longed to hear as a child now fell shallow and false on his ears. He heard them, translated them, filed the true meaning away bitterly. I'm glad it's you instead of Itachi. Thank you for taking his place like the expendable tool you are. Heavy and cold. He was grateful for the closed off part of him that wouldn't be affected by the true meaning of those words. He stared into those icy eyes and gave a sharp nod.

The hand slipped off his head. His father looked past him again, and Sasuke turned to see the two men who had come to collect him. Anbu. Even if his teacher hadn't warned him in advance, he would have recognized the uniforms. The porcelain masks. He couldn't differentiate one village's anbu from another. He had never seen any except the ones who had slaughtered his genin team. One of these had been in that group. He recognized the red markings of his mask, some rounded animal face, like a pig with a dog's muzzle. He stared into the eye-holes and wondered if the man recognized him as well. Not that it mattered. His father stepped away, turned his back, and left him without a word. Sasuke didn't watch him walk away.

The two men flanked him, hands dropping to his shoulders. He stared blankly at what was in front of him. The gate, the village beyond, the red and white Uchiha symbol painted onto the side of a building half a block away. Then there was smoke, he blinked, and he was in a forest. A camp site, spotted with shinobi wearing forehead protectors marked with the leaf. Konoha. The Anbu left him, disappearing into the trees. Sasuke stood motionless. He doubted the two men had gone far. They would watch from the shadows. He wouldn't give them any reason to come down.

He was taken to a small clearing and searched. He had set out to train that morning. Now his weapons and packs were confiscated. A young ninja, who didn't look much older than him, approached and circled him slowly. His eyes had gone white and lined. Sasuke recognized it as a bloodlimit, though he didn't know what it entailed. He assumed the check found nothing threatening because the boy left without speaking. Another man placed thick silver cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Sasuke's blank mask slipped at this. They were restraints designed to block his chakra. He had seen similar ones used on prisoners. Was that what these people considered him? A prisoner? Did they think he would try to escape? To fight back? He was going to his death to ensure the safety of his clan. He was a peace offering. What need was there to restrain him? The man cuffed him quickly, warily, too eager to render him powerless. Sasuke's face twisted in disgust.

His disgust thickened once the party set out. There were five men in the party, seven including the Anbu he knew were shadowing them. They were fast, Jounin at the least, and none of them appeared to be weak. Yet he was gagged and trussed and carried like some dangerous criminal over the shoulders of the same coward who had placed the cuffs on him. His first impression of Konoha had been a positive one. That Anbu squad had impressed him greatly. He had been in awe of their speed, the cold manner in which they killed, the efficient way they had moved whether individually or in pairs, how long they had pursued him when he had made his escape. By all rights he should have died back then. He wouldn't have been ashamed to die at their hands. They had been far beyond him in skill. Now that first impression was tainted. These men were silent, fast even carrying the burden they had made him into with their restraints. But they lacked discipline.

The man apparently in charge of transporting him had no control over his emotions. He watched him warily when they stopped for breaks, grimaced when he was forced to ungag him, and actually grumbled the few times he was given night watch over him. He glared and ground his teeth and constantly looked moments from an explosion. Sasuke stared at him with nothing but cool disdain. The others were better, but even they snuck him suspicious looks. The only one who maintained an emotionless expression was the boy with the bloodlimit. He stared at Sasuke openly, now and then, with a blank face and eyes that didn't reveal any hints as to why he was staring. When the cowardly man finally snapped and attacked him for, in his words, looking so 'haughty', the boy was the first to intervene. Two sharp hits and the man crumpled, coughing up blood. Sasuke wished he could have activated the sharingan to see what the boy had done. For a brief moment he was so interested in the boy's skills that he forgot he had no future. He had forgotten that he was essentially dead already.

He stopped looking at them. He stared blankly at the ground as someone patched him up. One of the Anbu came down, drugged him, and he was still staring at the man's feet when he passed out. He came to once to find himself choking, throwing up, dizzy and disorienting and brief. He woke again, more aware this time, to find himself being carried over the shoulder of one of the Anbu. He recognized the gray vest. The man stopped immediately, just long enough to place him under a quick sleep jutsu. Sasuke could have dispelled it despite the chakra binding cuffs. He didn't bother to. The drug had made him sick and though he was prepared to die, he didn't fancy choking to death on his own vomit because someone hadn't taken the gag off in time. He slept. He woke on a cot in a dim gray room with an illusionary wall masking the door. He lay on his back, stared at the ceiling, and waited.

Twice someone came to look in at him. He knew the door was there, that there was a barred window set into it. He could feel the air from the hall outside his cell. If he had looked, he might have been able to see through the illusionary wall. He didn't look. The staring bothered him. The silence bothered him. He was beginning to feel nervous. They had traveled for two days before he had been drugged. There was no telling how long he had been out. Now he was here, in Konoha, he assumed. And he was still alive.

Something was wrong about this. If he had been chosen to set an example, he would have been executed in front of his clan. That would have demoralized them. It might have upset them enough to turn away from his father and Itachi. It might have affected real change. Why bring him to Konoha? Killing him here would accomplish nothing. It wouldn't appease the families of the men Itachi had attacked. He was sure of that. At best, his death could be used as a display of power to their allies. Possibly. Assuming their allies were fools. His father was right. His absence would change nothing. Itachi would still be there, still acting on his own, still leaving the clan to be held responsible for everything he did. They would put up with it until he went too far again. And then what? It was only a matter of time before someone did demand Itachi's head. They would never get it. Even if the elders convinced his father, it wouldn't matter. Itachi didn't care about the clan. He used them when it was convenient and that was all. This was nothing more than another suicide mission to draw attention away from Itachi. And the longer he was left in his cell, waiting, the more he started to suspect this mission would turn out the same as the last one. If they had planned to kill him, they would have done so already.

A man entered his cell finally. Sasuke glanced at him, recognized his status by the robes he wore, and sat up respectfully. This was their Hokage. He seemed much younger than the one in Sand, who Sasuke had seen often enough to wonder who would replace him. Sand's Kage had always struck him as a sniveling old tyrant even weaker than the Uchiha elders, who had at least maintained their wits as their aged bodies failed them. This man was his father's age, with an even stare that exuded confidence and strength. But there was something wrong with him. It wasn't anything visible, just a feeling that the man wasn't well. That he hadn't been well for a very long time. That part of him was dying. Sasuke immediately resented that. Why was it that all of the strong leaders were aged, dying, or trapped as mere figureheads to the weak?

"Do you know who I am?" the man asked.

His voice was cool, but his eyes, blue and sharp, appeared to be laughing at him. Sasuke stared back at them and felt tired inside. "Hokage."

"Yes," the man said. Now he did smile, if only a little. "The last time I saw you, you were a baby. You've grown."

Sasuke wondered if that was supposed to be a joke. The man paused expectantly as if it were. He gave him a blank stare, "I don't remember."

"No, you wouldn't." The man sobered, his eyes seeming to darken. When he spoke again, his eyes were as cool as his tone. "We have a tradition of refusing sacrifices. We don't perform public executions here. Peace treaties are held by paper, signatures, promises, and trust that both parties will keep their word. The Uchiha clan should be well aware of our stance on that. It appears they hoped to use this breach to rid themselves of a leader they're incapable of removing on their own."

Itachi or his father? Sasuke didn't ask.

"We have no intention of doing that."

That much was painfully obvious. They had been given a choice and they had chosen to leave Itachi for the clan to deal with.

"Which leaves us in a difficult position in regards to you. We can't kill you for the crimes of another."

"I'm an Uchiha."

"Uchiha Sasuke," the man said, and that laugh was in his eyes again. "The only Uchiha considered a criminal in Konoha is Itachi. That's another point on which the Uchiha clan and Konoha has always clashed. We do not hold an entire people responsible for the actions of one individual. I suppose we could try you for having attacked one of our Anbu squads four years ago, but we prefer to keep that incident from becoming public knowledge. It wouldn't look good to admit we were distracted from our target by a handful of genin."

Sasuke took that to mean the Anbu who had escorted him here had recognized him after all.

"You are officially a political prisoner. You will be held indefinitely. Any actions taken by you against Konoha will be considered a breach of the treaty. While you are here, we will not hold Sand or the Uchiha clan responsible for any actions taken by Itachi. Sand has officially listed him as a Missing-nin. Your elders have assured us they are in full support of that decision."

Sasuke didn't know how to feel about that news. The elders had acted behind his father's back, just as his teacher had warned him they would. His father would be crushed. It meant the clan was without an heir, no formally active sharingan users at all. It meant they would no longer be held accountable for Itachi's random actions. It also meant Itachi would no longer have even a pretense of being tied to the clan. Rather than worrying about what the clan would do, he worried about what Itachi would do. Nothing good. He was sure of that.

"What happens if I die?" asked Sasuke. Indefinitely was a long time. He could face death. He didn't think he would be able to stand life imprisonment.

"Don't kill yourself." This was given in a warning tone, ice flashing over blue. "If you do, we will consider it a breach of the treaty."

Sasuke dropped his eyes. It wouldn't work. He was confident he could hold out for months, a year, maybe two. But no longer than that. If his pride didn't kill him, it would certainly drive someone else to. He hadn't even made the trip here without getting attacked. "And if someone else kills me?"

"That won't happen. If it did, we would consider ourselves in breach of the treaty."

He looked up sharply, "Why? By accepting me, you have already fulfilled your part of the treaty. It doesn't matter whether you keep me alive or kill me. Holding me won't stop the clan from breaking the treaty in the future. If they decide to, it will be because of something you or your allies have done to them. They won't start a war over anything that happens to me. I'm already dead."

"You seem very much alive to me." The man shook his head and turned away. "Another of the reasons the Uchiha clan separated years ago. We see things differently." He stopped in front of the door, standing silent for a few minutes. After a while, he spoke without looking back. "My son will be in to proposition you shortly. Feel free to refuse him. You are not obligated to do anything while you are here save live and refrain from attacking others. No one will force you to-"

"Oh, just let me in, already," an aggravated voice spoke up from outside the door. "You're going to make him paranoid."

The man's shoulders hunched under his robes. Sasuke watched him slip out the door. They must have moved a few steps away because their voices were quieter but still clearly audible.

"I told you to wait," the man hissed. "This is unorthodox enough as it is."

"I've waited four years! Now you expect me to wait some more? I'm dying, here."

"Another reinforcement-"

"It's not working. It's not gonna. Just go. I'll be careful."

"You'd better be."

"I will," and the new speaker entered the room. He shut the door and tilted his head to send a parting shot through the bars, "Nagging old man!"

A low mutter of, "Brat," filtered down the hall.

Sasuke stared as the Hokage's son turned to look at him. He would have known it was his son even if he hadn't been warned. The boy looked just like him, blonde, blue eyes, and he held his shoulders back with the same confidence his father wore. The only difference was that the boy was shorter, around his age, and had three marks on each cheek. The marks caught Sasuke's eye. They were familiar.

"Oh," the boy said suddenly, "wait." He turned his back and moved as if he were pulling something out of his jacket. A moment later he turned back around. He was wearing an Anbu mask, a pointy-nosed fox with three red whiskers on each cheek. "Recognize me?"

"Yes," said Sasuke. The boy was one of the few Anbu during that mission who hadn't killed anyone. Sasuke had disregarded him quickly as being new to the squad or new to the rank. He had fought with potential and too much exuberance, lacking the ruthless discipline of the others. And he had been one of the last to stop chasing when he had made his escape. Knowing that boy was his age rankled him. It helped to realize he was the Hokage's son. He didn't know if the blonde would become Hokage in his father's place, but he would certainly have gotten the best training available. Sasuke envied him for a long moment before dismissing the emotion.

The boy pulled the mask off and slipped it back into his jacket. His eyes were burning when he looked up again. An intense blue that looked too bright to be natural. "I'm Naruto. I'm going to be the next Hokage. In a year or two, anyway. My dad wants to settle things with a few of our allies before he steps down. I've been looking forward to seeing you again. Ka - one of the other Anbu recognized the sharingan, but he wouldn't tell me at the time. He was afraid I'd sneak into Sand to find you if I knew you were an Uchiha. Gaara was the one who finally told me who you were. He recognized the description and said you came back to Sand right after getting the sharingan. You know who Gaara is?"

There was something forced about the way the boy was talking. Too quickly, too carelessly, as if Sasuke couldn't see the way his eyes were burning. Sasuke wondered if this were his way of making small talk. He wondered why the boy was bothering. "I know who he is. He has a demon."

He had only seen Gaara a few times. A pale red-haired boy with eyes rimmed in black and a tattoo on his forehead. He carried a gourd of sand on his back and a demon inside his body. Once, before he had become a genin, Sasuke had wanted to fight with him. He had just realized none of the kids in the clan could compete with him well enough to help him get as strong as Itachi. He had heard rumors about Gaara, who was their age and supposedly stronger than the Kazekage. He had set out to find him. He had gotten one block away before Itachi had caught him and ordered him home. He had never gotten that close to Gaara again. By the time he had returned to the clan, he had known better than to approach any of the Sand shinobi. His teacher was the only one he had been allowed contact with.

"He's my friend," Naruto said sharply.

"I wasn't insulting him."

"Oh." Naruto blinked and that bright glare flickered and died. "I'm defensive. Sorry."

First small talk and now he was apologizing? Sasuke had a difficult time keeping the impatience off his face. "The Hokage said you have a proposition for me. What is it?"

Naruto flinched, seemed to coil for a moment, and then blurted, "I'm working my way up to that!"

"Why not just ask?"

"Because I don't want you to say no!" Naruto closed his mouth tight, as if he wanted to take the words back. His hands had curled into fists. His face was flushed with frustration and embarrassment.

Naruto reminded Sasuke of the man who had attacked him on the way here. Restraining himself, but entirely ready to snap at any moment. Sasuke regretted pushing him. He wanted to get this...interview?...this meeting over with. This was his bad habit. He pushed people too far without even trying. He looked past the boy to the barred door. The illusion was in affect again. He could see through it, the fake gray wall shimmering in a blurry mirage.

"Take all the time you need," Sasuke said blandly. "I'm not going anywhere." Ever.

"You will be if you say yes."

Sasuke's wandering attention snapped back to the blonde. "Where would I go?"

"Hospital first," said Naruto. He was glaring at the bandage on Sasuke's cheek, his face darkening, "Before that scars." And then the thundercloud burst into a grin that was more violently proud than happy. "I broke his face. Dad almost killed me for it, but it was his own fault. No one was supposed to touch you. Neji saw the whole thing and he said you weren't doing anything but looking at him. Just wait, when I'm Hokage he'll be lucky if I let him do genin missions."

"And after the hospital?" asked Sasuke. He wasn't going to read too much into Naruto's anger. He would have dealt with that man severely had it been up to him. There was no excuse for a Jounin to attack a prisoner for such a petty reason. Especially one who was restrained and gagged and offering no resistance whatsoever. He refused to blame himself for looking at the man with contempt. "Where would I go?"

Naruto stilled, his face almost emotionless. "Home with me," he said quietly. "I want you to stay with me."

Sasuke stared, "Why?" Those eyes burned at him for a moment before Naruto fidgeted and looked away. He was almost amused when the blonde immediately began talking in that too fast too casual voice again. The boy was nervous, embarrassed, procrastinating. Sasuke took it all in.

"There used to be a whole district set aside for the Uchiha clan," Naruto said quickly. "It got remodeled over the years, turned into apartments and houses for the lower ranks. Genin, a few Chunin, civilian families mostly, and more room for the orphans because it's bad enough they lost their parents without them having to live in slums because there's no one to support them. It was one of my academy teacher's ideas, since he lost his parents early and he knew what it was like. Anyway, the main house is still empty if you wanted to move into it. Wouldn't take much to fix it up. You'd be allowed to move around freely as long as you stay within the village walls. I don't think we can accept you into our ranks, but you could train with me if you want, and go with me on missions. I haven't been doing enough of those lately, for the last few years, actually." And he stopped, stilled, his voice soft.

"I have a demon, too," said Naruto. "Like Gaara. My dad thinks that's why, that I was just too young and susceptible and you were interesting and new. Maybe that is why. All I know is I've been thinking about you since I saw you four years ago. When I found out you were coming here, I almost went and got you myself."

"Is that why Konoha chose me?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto's face twisted, "My dad had his own reasons. He said if we took Itachi, the clan would repeat the same mistakes with you. Nothing would change. They wouldn't learn anything. He said if we took you, they'd still be forced to get rid of Itachi, and then they'd be without an heir. They'd have to adjust. Change. He says their biggest flaw is that they resist change and that this was the best way to affect change without hurting them directly. He went on and on. I get where he's coming from. It makes sense. But even if all of this hadn't happened, I'd have gone after you eventually. I've known who you were for the last year. The only reason I didn't go is because you're an Uchiha and Konoha agreed not to interfere with that clan when they left. It's been driving me crazy."

"You've been obsessed with me."

"Yes," Naruto said sharply. His face was a picture of stubbornness, as if he weren't the least bit embarrassed.

"And now that I'm here, you want me to live with you."

"Yes."

"As what?" asked Sasuke. He was confident he already knew, but he wanted to see if Naruto would say it.

Naruto tensed, his hands curling again. He rocked on his heels and his face was a picture of wary frustration. This was very important to him. And difficult for him. Sasuke had no sympathy whatsoever.

"Live with you as what?" Sasuke prodded, in a cool, casual tone. "A partner? A prisoner? A servant?"

"A lover," Naruto ground out. His eyes were burning again.

"I'm not trained for that."

Sasuke watched as Naruto jerked back a step, surprise and confusion flashing over his face. He looked as if he had been told an unexpected joke and wasn't sure whether to laugh or demand that the punch line be explained to him. Sasuke almost wished it were a joke. Naruto's expression would have been more amusing then. Sasuke knew now why Naruto's father had made a point of telling him he was free to refuse this 'proposition.' It was threatening. Even knowing he was 'free' to refuse didn't stop him from feeling threatened. He hadn't been trained for this at all.

"I've gone through the basic training," Sasuke explained. "Each group I worked with had a different setup, favorite poisons, jutus most commonly used by their enemies, pain tolerance, removal of any phobias one might have. None of them introduced intercourse to prepubescents. I might have taken that had I continued working with Sound, but I was called home after that last mission. My training since then has been limited to attack and defense, with no focus on torture. Sand ninja suicide when they're captured, and since I'm still technically a genin I wasn't taught interrogation methods. It was never an issue."

"You're saying you're a virgin." Naruto looked a little too happy, and possibly excited, to hear that.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I'm saying that I haven't been trained for that. If I'm raped, I can't guarantee I'll be mentally stable afterward. I'm liable to suicide. In which case, Konoha will take it as a breach of the treaty and retaliate against my clan. I won't risk that."

"I wouldn't force you," Naruto blurted, in a small voice.

Sasuke wondered if that sounded as much like a lie to the blonde as it did to him.

Naruto scowled suddenly, "And I sure as hell wouldn't do anything to make you kill yourself! Don't even talk like that! If I ever do something that upsets you, just tell me. I'll never do it again." He folded his arms over his chest in a manner that was more defensive than intimidating. "I want you to live with me. Stay with me. As a lover. But I want you to be happy about it, not...whatever you're thinking."

"Happy."

"Happy," Naruto repeated stubbornly.

"I came here to die."

Naruto's fingers dug into his arms until it was painful to look at. His expression was a conflicted mess. "Did you want to die?"

"No," Sasuke admitted. "I liked being a shinobi. I wanted a teacher who could challenge me. I wanted to be strong enough to take care of my clan. None of that matters now. I know myself. Whether I suicide or someone else kills me, I won't survive long in captivity. It's not in my nature."

"Can I sit down?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke blinked at him. He wondered if Naruto misunderstood the balance of power here, or if he were trying to be polite. "Do what you want."

Naruto flashed him a weak smile as he sat a good two feet away from him, "Don't say that. If I did what I wanted, I'd be all over you by now. I swear, I peeked in at you earlier and it was all I could do not to barge right in. Took the old man forever to have his talk. He wouldn't let me in till he'd had a chance to talk to you."

He really was obsessed. In another time and place, Sasuke might have found that flattering or at the very least amusing.

"You aren't in captivity, you know," said Naruto. "Even if you say no to me, you still won't be...thrown into prison or anything. Even I'd probably suicide if I ended up in there. You'd probably be restricted to one of the towers for a while, under Anbu watch. You'd be allowed to go out and move around, you'd just have to keep the cuffs on or accept a permanent seal. You couldn't be a shinobi anymore, but...there's plenty of other stuff you could do around the village that you might like. We have a lot of civilians compared to most. And they're not all like that ass who hit you on your way here. Konoha's a nice enough place, especially if you're friends with the right people. You definitely are. You've got the Hokage and the future Hokage ready to bash some heads in if anyone gives you trouble."

"And if I stay with you?"

"I'll make you happy." Naruto scowled and blushed, his arms folding even more tightly than before. "Sounds stupid, but I would. You could train with me. I probably can't get you in to take the tests like a real shinobi. That's just a rank, though. I could teach you what I know and get teachers for you if you don't like learning from me. I'm probably not a very good teacher. I've never actually tried. You'd stay with me, so you wouldn't have to be watched all the time. You definitely wouldn't get sealed. If you were my lover, you'd have to be able to defend yourself against assassination attempts. We get those now and then and the 'no killing' thing my dad told you about doesn't count if you're defending your life. You wouldn't be restricted to the village, either, so long as you only leave when I do. The only missions I've really been doing lately are deliveries of classified material, traveling, defense, nothing messy. It'd get us out of the village for a while."

"Won't it cause trouble if you take me openly as a lover? You plan to be Hokage in a few years. You'll need to produce heirs." And he didn't even want to think of how his father would react if word got out. Except he didn't have to worry about that. Sasuke frowned soberly. He didn't have to worry about anything he did affecting his parents. He was dead the same as if his father had slit his throat in their yard instead of patting his head. Even if he were to meet them in person, they wouldn't acknowledge him.

"Surrogate mom," Naruto shrugged. "I'll get around to that when the time comes. I was already planning on it. I haven't been interested in girls since I saw you. Or in anyone, for that matter. I might even be able to get Baa-chan to mix up a kid for both of us if we do it before she croaks of old age." His eyes gleamed suddenly, glinting off an evil grin. "Can you imagine the kids we could have? We've got killer genes..."

"You're getting ahead of yourself," Sasuke said weakly. He had a sudden urge to back himself into a corner until Naruto stopped grinning like that.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed, "but it's such a great dream..."

"What about your reputation?"

Naruto snorted, "I've got a demon inside me. Kyuubi, to be specific. I stopped caring about my reputation about the same time I started handling a kunai. I'm a good shinobi and I'll be an even better Hokage. Anyone who doesn't like who I sleep with can take their bigoted opinions and leave."

Like the Uchiha clan had. Sasuke wondered if Naruto was the reason they had left Konoha all those years ago. He could easily imagine his father arguing with Naruto's father, while a baby with a demon freshly implanted in him cried nearby. Let it grow up and risk that it might one day destroy the entire village? The entire clan? They would have left and never looked back. He was sure they would have done the same thing if the Hokage had taken a male lover. Homosexuality wasn't something he had even heard about until he had begun training with other villages. Like infidelity, it wasn't spoken of in the Uchiha clan because no one would ever do it. Now here he was seriously considering it.

"How often would I need to have sex with you?"

Naruto let out a choked whining sound, his face blushing a dark unflattering pink. Sasuke stared in annoyance. He didn't see why Naruto should be embarrassed by the question. He didn't feel embarrassed. He felt like washing his hands until they bled.

"I don't know," Naruto mumbled. He shifted uncomfortably, his eyes locked on his folded arms. "You've never done it, so...you'd have to do it a few times at first to try it out. I mean, if you like it, then we could whenever you want. If you don't like it, then, well, if you don't then you don't. That's it. There's nothing you can do about that. Some people just don't, so, that's it. I'd leave you alone."

"Would I lose my privileges immediately?"

Naruto looked up, "Privileges?"

"My freedom," Sasuke said pointedly, "being allowed to train. Not being sealed."

Naruto bit his lip and stared at him until Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. He unfolded his arms and put his palms flat on the cot.

"If you really don't like it, then you don't have to do it anymore," said Naruto. "As long as you stay with me, keep living with me, then you won't lose anything. But you have to stay with me. Even if we don't have sex, you still have to stay. And you can't do it with anyone else. Ever. I'd know if you did. I'd get...violent if you did..."

"You don't have to worry about that," Sasuke grimaced.

"Then...?"

Sasuke looked away. He couldn't believe he was doing this. He tried to reconcile it with himself. If he had been tossed into a prison, he would probably have been raped a few times by now. Whether he would have survived the experience with his mind intact or not, he would have been ruined for life. Compared to that, what Naruto proposed didn't sound difficult. He was a shinobi. If he had been trained properly, he would have been able to handle sex with anyone without it affecting him. Undercover missions required that sort of flexibility. Given, he wouldn't have willingly accepted a mission that required having sex with a man, but he would have been trained for it just in case. He wanted the freedom Naruto was offering him. He would do just about anything to keep his chakra from being permanently sealed.

"Will you take these off?" Sasuke asked, lifting his cuffed hands.

Naruto hopped up, his eyes shiny above a wide smile. He crouched at Sasuke's feet and removed the ankle cuffs. He paused when he had finished. His smile faltered. "I'm not supposed to take those off till you come to my place."

"To consummate the agreement," Sasuke muttered. He tried to imagine having sex - or doing anything sexual at all - with his hands bound and his chakra restricted. Just the thought of it made him sick and dizzy. He closed his eyes in a painful grimace. "No. No, forget it. Nevermind. I can't do this. Not with my hands tied."

"No!" Naruto blurted. He sounded as disturbed as Sasuke felt. "You have to wear them till we get to my apartment, not while we're-" Now he was the one who grimaced. "I'll take them off as soon as we're inside! The second we get there! And you don't have to walk around with them on or anything. Once we're out in the hall I can transfer us right to Baa-chan's office and straight to my apartment from there. So...you'll only have to wear them for a few more minutes. Just a few, so..." He gripped the ankle cuffs until his knuckles turned white. "Don't change your mind..."

Sasuke wondered exactly how obsessed Naruto was with him to sound so desperate. Almost panicky. How desperate could a blonde-haired blue-eyed Hokage's son be for sex and companionship? Especially one who had been a fledgling Anbu at age twelve. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You said I had to be faithful. Will you be having sex with other people?"

"Never," Naruto grimaced, as if the very thought were abhorrent to him.

"Alright."

He pushed the lingering doubts and recriminations into the back of his mind where they could curdle and ferment to their heart's content. Then he stood and followed an ecstatic Naruto out of the cell.

.-.  
TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Sasuke got the sharingan at 12 and it's been 4 years since then, so he and Naruto are about 16 yrs old.  
> Warnings: hard yaoi lemon, NarutoxSasuke NaruSasu

The woman Naruto had referred to as 'Baa-chan' was in fact a good looking blonde who appeared even younger than Sasuke's mother. True to his word, Naruto had taken them from the hall outside his cell straight to her office. They caught her with a saucer of sake raised halfway to her mouth.

She didn't look particularly surprised by the entrance, merely letting out a casual, "Do you know what a door is?" before downing the drink.

Naruto released the light hold he had taken on Sasuke's sleeve and stalked to her desk. He placed his palms on it and leaned forward, "I thought you were cutting back, eh?"

"You were mistaken," the woman drawled. She flicked a casual look at Sasuke before focusing back on Naruto. "What do you want? I've just spent the last three hours cleaning up your mess. Do you have any idea how tedious reconstructive surgery is? You're lucky I haven't knocked you through the wall yet."

"Like you could," Naruto scoffed. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"Then stop acting like one. You're too old to be throwing temper tantrums."

"He totally deserved it! It was discipline!"

"You destroyed his face. It was excessive."

Naruto pushed himself back off the desk, "Whatever. Look, this is Sasuke." He turned to jerk his head at the woman, "That's Tsunade, but you can call her Baa-chan."

From the way the woman's eyes narrowed, Sasuke didn't think he could. Not that he would have called her that, anyway. She shot a hand out and caught Naruto's collar, pulling him so he was leaning over the desk again. They reminded him of bickering children. It was suddenly very difficult to believe either of them held a position of power.

"What do you want, brat?" she muttered. "I'm tired."

"Yeah," Naruto snorted, "you look it. I need you to heal Sasuke's face."

Sasuke stared back when the woman's gaze shifted to him again. It was a speculative, measuring look. He met it blankly. She was trying to read him, possibly intimidate him. She was wasting her time. He let her waste it until she grew bored of the game. He had seen enough to know he fell short in her estimation. Not good enough? Possibly. Certainly not what she had expected him to be. He didn't particularly care.

She turned her attention back to Naruto, wrinkling her nose, "That scratch?"

"It'll scar!" Naruto scowled.

"All shinobi have scars."

"Maybe, but he didn't have one there when they picked him up so he shouldn't have one now!"

"You should have thought of that before you made extra work for me. Now I have more important things to do," she released him and waved at him. "Have Sakura do it."

Naruto fidgeted, "She's busy!"

"Do it yourself, then," she said, in a dismissive tone.

Oddly enough, Naruto blushed. "But-"

"Out," she sniffed. "Before I embarrass you by recounting the last time you were in my office asking for a favor. I believe it had to do with an especially troublesome rash on your-"

"I'm going!" Naruto yelped, his face a mottled purple. "I'm going, already!"

"Good."

Naruto growled as he stalked to Sasuke and caught hold of his sleeve. A moment later, they were in a dimlit room. Naruto was already grumbling when he turned to undo the cuffs on Sasuke's wrists.

"Hateful old hag," he muttered. "It would have only taken her a minute."

"It doesn't bother me," Sasuke shrugged. The woman was absolutely correct. All shinobi had scars.

"It bothers me!" Naruto snapped. He turned, pulling the ankle cuffs out of his pocket and tossing both in a pile near the door. He promptly kicked them. "It shouldn't have happened in the first place. She's only being like that because she thinks it's funny." He kicked the pile again so they rebounded lightly off the wall. "The whole situation. Like it would kill her to show some sympathy or something..."

Sasuke looked around while Naruto was busy with his rant. Naruto's apartment, which it had to be since he had removed the cuffs, was surprisingly small. Sparsely furnished, a few decorative scrolls on the walls, four photos on the bookshelf, one of which was face down, and no visible traps guarding the door or the darkly curtained window. The scuffed floor gave it a lived-in feel, but he got the impression Naruto didn't spend much time here.

"Where's the bathroom?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto looked up in surprise, his foot paused in preparation for another kick to the cuffs, "Down the hall on the left."

Sasuke nodded in thanks. He heard Naruto deliver the interrupted kick as he went down the hall. There were bound to be some new scuffs on the floor by the time he was finished. The bathroom was too clean. Naruto struck him as unorganized and impatient. His apartment was the exact opposite. Sasuke had stayed in a variety of places over the years. He had never been in a place cleaner than his own home before. He wondered if Naruto had hired help, or if he had been hoping to make a good impression. If it were the latter, it implied Naruto had been sure he would agree to stay with him. Sasuke preferred to believe he regularly hired someone to do the work. He didn't like the idea that Naruto had predicted his decision this far in advance.

He pulled the bandages off his cheek, eyeing the cut in the mirror. It was a little more than the 'scratch' the woman had made it out to be. The coward had pulled a kunai when he hadn't fallen - or even stopped staring at him in disgust - after the first blow. If he had moved his head, he might have lost an eye and the tip of his ear. He didn't consider himself especially vain, but he wouldn't have minded letting it scar. It would be vivid and noticeable even from a distance. Striking. Scars were history. He had next to none. He concentrated his chakra and healed the cut until only a faint bruise remained. Awkward. He had never been good at healing.

He could hear Naruto in the kitchen when he came back to the livingroom. He left his sandals by the door. Then he started looking for traps. Hokage's son. Assassination attempts. There had to more than exterior traps for the entrances considering Naruto had transported them directly inside. It took him two sweeps before he recognized one of the decorative scrolls as a seal. He didn't understand it. A seal might allow Naruto to come and go freely, but it should have blocked him. How had he bypassed that? He activated the sharingan. He was following a spiderwebbing chakra trail across the ceiling when Naruto came into the doorway.

"Don't do that," Naruto said quickly. "You might set something off."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. As if he were so incompetent as to trigger a trap just by reading it. He had already seen enough to know the trail led across the room to one of the other scrolls. He wondered if any of them were merely decorative. And he wondered what purpose they served, to make Naruto sound so jumpy. He let the red fade from his eyes before turning. Naruto looked at him, grinned, and came over to catch hold of his sleeve. That was three times now. For someone who wanted him as a lover, Naruto was oddly careful to avoid actual contact.

"You healed it," Naruto said, staring at his face. "Still a little bruised, though."

"I'm not skilled at healing."

"Me, neither," Naruto admitted. "I have too much chakra so it's hard to do it the conventional way."

Implying there was an unconventional way? Sasuke recalled how Naruto had blushed in the woman's office and decided he didn't want to know. He looked over Naruto's shoulder. "What were you doing?"

"Lunch! Come on," and he tugged on that sleeve till Sasuke followed him. "I don't keep much. I hate cooking and I usually eat at Ichiraku's, anyway. That's a ramen stand. They're really good. We can stop by there tomorrow."

Sasuke let himself be led into the kitchen, which was as small and spotless as the rest of the apartment. He sat in one of the mismatched chairs and stared at the food Naruto offered him. A heaping plate of something that looked like a cross between salad and a casserole. All he recognized was the pasta mixed in with it. Despite the unappetizing appearance, it did smell good. He gave Naruto a questioning look.

"I didn't make it," Naruto said, with a sheepish grin. "Sakura dropped it off yesterday. She's a friend of mine. I used to have a huge crush on her, but that was before I saw you. I mostly liked her because she wasn't interested in me. Typical crush. You know how it is."

He didn't know. The only females he had ever paid attention to were shinobi. Uchihas didn't have crushes, they had arranged marriages for the sole purpose of producing children. Since he had been a sharingan holder, he would have married in another year or two. Preferably to one of his second cousins. He would never say it aloud, but he suspected the lack of outside blood had a hand in the decline of the clan over the years. His parents had been first cousins, but he considered them an exception, not the rule. He wondered how Itachi had gotten out of that tradition. He had come back to find his brother still single, still childless, and no explanations were forthcoming. Just one more reason for the rest of the clan to look askance at them both.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really," Sasuke admitted. He ate some of the food, more to be polite than anything. It did taste much better than it looked, his stomach just wasn't interested.

Naruto frowned at him. "I heard you didn't eat hardly anything on the way here."

He sounded disapproving, as if he were scolding a picky child. Sasuke leveled a cool stare on him. "I thought I was coming here to die. I didn't want a messy death."

"Oh. Right." Naruto dropped his eyes, suddenly intent on cleaning his plate.

Sasuke took a few more bites and then gave up. He would reheat it later or just eat it cold. Considering he didn't know what it was supposed to be, it might even taste better cold. Naruto ducked his head when he went to the refrigerator. A glance inside told him why. There was a jug of milk, a pitcher of what might have been juice, and an open cup of instant ramen with disposable chopsticks poking out of it. Sasuke stood for a long moment, looking from the refrigerator to Naruto. Naruto was blushing till his ears turned faintly pink. If he hadn't known who Naruto was, he would have assumed he was extremely poor, very young, or both. He sat back down, propped his elbows on the table, and stared at Naruto over the top of his folded hands. Normally he would have told himself it wasn't any of his business. But this was the person he had just agreed to live with. Indefinitely.

"Why do you live like this?"

Naruto choked on a mouthful of his salad-casserole. "It's not that bad! Everything here I paid for myself. I've been living on my own since I got my first paying mission. I think I've done pretty good for myself. And it's not like we'll be staying here now. I know the place isn't really big enough for two people. As soon as we get the main house fixed up, we can move over there. We can keep groceries then, if you don't like eating out."

"Can you afford to move?" asked Sasuke. Knowing Naruto was supporting himself made the tiny apartment easier to understand. He still didn't approve of eating out instead of keeping food in the house, but he understood the need for independence. If Itachi hadn't stretched his own independent streak so far, Sasuke would have gladly moved out on his own years ago. After Itachi, his parents had kept him on a very short leash.

"Oh, I have money. I've been saving up for years."

For four years?

"And you already own the house," Naruto shrugged, "so we won't even have to worry about rent or anything."

"What do you mean I own it?"

"I told you," said Naruto, "it's the main house from the old Uchiha district. It's been left alone in case any of them ever decided to come back. Now that you're here, it only makes sense that you'd get it. It's the house you were born in, after all."

Sasuke considered that. He remembered little of his childhood. Movement, unrest, not being comfortable because the adults around him weren't. By the time he had started paying attention to his surroundings, he had already discovered Itachi and envy, competition, hero-worship. One of his earliest memories was of bragging to his mother that he would grow up to be a ninja someday and having her laugh and say of course he would. He was an Uchiha. What else could he have grown up to be?

"Did they leave anything behind?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't know." Naruto looked surprised by the question. Interested, rapidly curious and excited by the possibility. "It's been off-limits since I was a kid. There used to be rumors that the Anbu had meetings in there. Not true, by the way, I was kinda disappointed when I found out. But the rumors kept people out as much as the traps did. If they did leave something, it'd still be there. Probably shouldn't get your hopes up, though."

Naruto was the one who appeared to be getting his hopes up. Sasuke refrained from pointing that out. He let his gaze wander around the room again. This time his attention was drawn to the crack between the refrigerator and the sink, visible just over Naruto's left shoulder. He could see all the way to the wall and there wasn't a speck of dust on the linoleum. His lips twitched.

"Is your apartment always this clean?"

"Of course! I'm very neat!"

Naruto grinned so widely the smile looked painful. Sasuke stared at him. He waited. There was a convulsive tug on the left side of Naruto's face. Then his head swung down till his chin touched his chest.

"No," Naruto mumbled. "Sakura-chan came over yesterday and helped me clean up. I'm really messy..."

Sasuke snorted, "Thought so."

"Yeah, well," Naruto glowered at his plate, shifting fitfully in his chair, "it's just because I've been living alone so long. I didn't notice how bad it'd gotten. I could be neat if I tried."

"It doesn't matter," said Sasuke, as much to himself as to Naruto. He had to remind himself to focus. This was only amusing on the surface. "You were preparing before you even met with me. What made you so sure I'd say yes?"

"I don't know what I'd have done if you'd said no," Naruto admitted. He was wearing a stubborn frown. "So I only planned on you saying yes. I'm optimistic like that."

Sasuke tried not to be irritated. The complete lack of guilt or shame, or even embarrassment, rankled him. He agreed with what the Hokage had said in the hall outside his cell. This entire situation was unorthodox. It was bizarre. Naruto's straightforward approach, as if he took it for granted, as if it were normal, made the situation stranger still. What had Naruto done? Recruited friends to help him get ready before Sasuke had even arrived? What had he told them? That the person he had been obsessing over for the last four years was on his way and he wanted to make a good impression? Surely someone had pointed out how insane that was. It was bad enough Naruto had assumed he would agree to his terms. He didn't want to think that other people, absolute strangers, had made the same assumption about him. It was insulting.

"Why were you fixated on me?" Sasuke demanded. He did his best not to glare. "You said you were too young and susceptible. Susceptible to what? We only had that one encounter and I didn't even fight you directly."

He had been far too busy avoiding the Anbu who had been trying to kill him. Naruto, who he had then dubbed as the rookie of the group, never made any overt moves toward him. It wasn't until he had made his escape that he even paid attention to him, and then only because Naruto had been one of the last two tracking him when he had gotten deep enough into Sound for them to call off their pursuit.

"I don't know why," Naruto frowned. He leaned back in his chair far enough to fold his arms. Defensive. "Dad thinks it might be because of my age at the time. That I just matured all of a sudden, or Kyuubi did something and it was pure chance that I was looking at you when he did it. I don't buy that. If it were that, I could have focused on anyone in the village I saw before I left that day, or one of the Anbu, even one of the kids who died. You don't just hit puberty in a second, even if you have a demon. And it wasn't like that, anyway. I just...noticed you. Halfway through the fight. It was like a flash and I just...noticed. It took me a few months before I realized I was seriously obsessed. I thought it was just like...a rival thing because you got away and it was my first Anbu mission. I'm a sore loser, so I thought I was just obsessing over you because you made us look bad. Made me look bad. I take stuff like that personally."

Now Naruto started looking embarrassed, a faint blush breaking on his face. He continued to frown stubbornly, "If it was some kind of instant puberty, I think I would have noticed. I was almost fourteen before I started having dreams like that about you. It didn't start out like that at all. It was just pure obsession. I'd see dark hair in a crowd and get frustrated because I still didn't know who you were, no way of telling if I'd ever find out, and I couldn't forget no matter what I tried. I really kinda hated you to start with."

Naruto sounded as if he hadn't wanted to admit that. Sasuke was glad he had. Oddly enough, it made him feel better to know Naruto hadn't enjoyed being obsessed with him. He certainly wasn't enjoying being the object of that obsession.

"By the time I did hit puberty, it just got worse." Naruto scowled at the table, at the memory. "That's when I broke down and told my dad about it. I couldn't focus anymore. I've never had a lot of patience to begin with, but..." He made a disgusted noise. "My training went to hell. I couldn't trust myself to work with others because I'd get impatient and lose my temper. They weren't you, so I didn't want to partner with them. It felt wrong. That's it. Just wrong. But I couldn't stay in the village, either, because the only thing I knew for sure was that you had no connection with Konoha. So I was taking solo missions that got me into other villages, even though I knew I'd become a liability. It was like everything I'd been working for my entire life got put on hold, endangered. I hated it and there was nothing I could do until I found you and settled-"

Naruto glanced up and stopped. He frowned, looking apologetic and wary. "I don't feel like that anymore. Really. I just...lost it for a while there. I didn't know what was happening and I couldn't do anything to stop it, so I blamed you for it. It wasn't fair of me, but it kept me from self-destructing. My dad countered it with seals - to this day he's still convinced Kyuubi's causing it somehow. I don't know that he's wrong. Either way, the seals helped. Just being able to talk about it helped." And he gave a wry grin, blushing lightly. "Sakura-chan said I was suffering from love at first sight, and as corny as it sounds, I like her explanation the most. It fits the whole want-hate phase I went through. And once Gaara finally told me who you were, I settled right into want-need instead. Then the only problem I had was restlessness cause I wasn't allowed to go near you. I think half the reason I was so angry before was because I had no way of knowing if you were even still alive. I can't count how many dreams I had where I found out who you were only to learn that you'd died of your injuries right after I first saw you. It helped a lot to know you were fine, right there in Sand, even if it was frustrating to think that you'd been there all along."

Sasuke didn't know what to say. His immediate response was inappropriate. He thought that if Itachi's intentions during that raid had been to take down Konoha, he had nearly succeeded. Naruto's apparent affliction had been caused simply because Sasuke had been chosen to distract that Anbu team. If that were true, then had it been done deliberately, it would have been a stroke of genius. He reminded himself that it hadn't been done deliberately. He had certainly done nothing to make Naruto focus on him. His father had sent him, but he couldn't have known Naruto would be part of that Anbu squad. Even if he had known, he couldn't have predicted Naruto would latch on to him to the point where his stability was in question. It was pure chance. Bad luck. If he had to blame anyone for things happening this way, he thought he would side with Naruto's father and blame the demon. That was safe.

"That's quite a story," Sasuke said quietly.

"It's true!"

"I believe you. What would you have done if I had said no?"

Naruto scowled, "I told you. I have no idea what I would have done if you said no, so I didn't plan on it."

"Guess," Sasuke prodded.

Naruto folded his arms again. "Gone crazy, maybe," he muttered. "I promised I wouldn't bother you if you turned me down. I probably would have broken that promise within a day or two and asked you again. I can't imagine being able to stay away with you in the village. Knowing you were here. Seeing you. It was bad enough not being allowed to go near you when they brought you in, not getting to talk to you when you woke up. I guess I would have...backslid." And he shifted suddenly, a dismissive annoyance taking over his face. As if he had just reminded himself that it hadn't happened and so he could make light of it. "I'm sure Dad would have tried some new seals on me. Or shipped me off to Sand for a while to train with Gaara. Maybe sent me on another whore-house hopping trip with Jiraiya, like a little sex is gonna fix the problem, as if a henge would even fool me enough to get it up. I'm obsessed, not delusional."

Naruto leaned forward abruptly, his eyes burning blue. He spoke quietly, "You know that seal you were looking at? It's supposed to keep me from losing control. When I first set it up, it knocked me out cold. Just last week it made me sleepy any time I was in the apartment for more than a few minutes. But since we came in, earlier? Might as well not be there. I can barely feel it. It's set to activate when there's a chakra surge - when I'm restless and frustrated I'd come back here and sleep it off. I was afraid I'd snap the second I got you in here, so I strengthened it last night. That seems silly now. I'm at peace. Just knowing you'll stay, it's like...I'd be fine no matter what. I haven't even touched you and I'm okay with that. I feel like I could live my entire life without touching you and it would be fine as long as you're near me. I'm okay with that."

"I'm not."

Naruto jerked back, confusion flashing over his face, dispelling that dreamy expression.

Sasuke grimaced. "I don't go back on my word." Though he wished he did. Naruto was giving him a perfect opportunity to do so. "The deal was that I stay with you as a lover. You were very specific about the terms and I agreed to them. Should I find sex with you unbearable, I will tell you and you will respect that. In which case I will continue to live with you in abstinence. I didn't say anything about you not being allowed to touch me. That sleeve-tugging thing is childish and ridiculous. How were you intending to train me or partner with me on missions if you're afraid of physical contact?"

"Afraid?" Naruto blurted. He seemed to forget his inner 'peace' in favor of defensive outrage. "Me? You're the one who was talking about suicide! I told you I wouldn't do anything that upsets you. I'm trying to be considerate here. You think I actually like the idea of never touching you? Hell, no, I don't. But I'll do it if I have to, if that's what it takes to make you comfortable. And I never said anything about 'unbearable' - I said if you didn't like it. You're a shinobi, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you could 'bear' just about anything I did if I warned you first. You'd just consider it a replacement for that 'training' you missed. Your definition of 'lovers' is really screwed up, you know that? Just totally missed the point. Lovers. Love - ers. Get it? It's about compromise and being considerate and doing everything you can to ensure that your partner enjoys the relationship as much as you do. And notice how I said 'enjoy' - not 'tolerate' or 'bear' or anything that makes it sound like torture. If I wanted you to hate me, I'd have left the cuffs on and bent you over the arm of the couch the second we got here. Stupid."

Sasuke stared. He was choking on white hot anger. He swallowed, took a shaky breath, and forced his voice to remain steady. It came out as pure ice. "You're blackmailing me. Sexual favors and a lifetime commitment in return for freedom that is, at best, questionable. And you say my definition is twisted? You are delusional."

"It's not blackmail!"

"Yes, it is," Sasuke snapped. "It was either agree to your terms or be rendered helpless for the rest of my life. A very long life, according to the Hokage. A life where anything I do will be used against my clan. If I defend myself, it's used against my clan. If I put up with it until I break and suicide, it's used against my clan. That's no choice. I told you I couldn't do it. I couldn't live helpless, defenseless. But I couldn't die, either, not without betraying my clan. I would have accepted any alternative you offered if it meant I'd be able to have at least the freedom to defend myself in the future. Delude yourself all you like, but don't insult me. I agreed to be your whore and your companion. Love has nothing to do with it."

Naruto matched him glare for glare, his hands gripping the edge of the table, lips curling to reveal clenched teeth. Sasuke egged him on with as much loathing and disgust as he could put in his eyes. He had pushed him too far again, was still pushing him. If Naruto snapped it would be a quick end. And he had the Hokage's assurance it would be on Konoha's head, not his. He wondered what that would mean. The clan wouldn't demand retribution for the murder of a dead man. What penance could the Hokage exact from his own son and heir? Ridiculous. He was beginning to wonder if he hadn't been kept alive because of Naruto's obsession, rather than the story the Hokage had given him. That made more sense.

"You're right," Naruto said, in a bitter, biting tone. He pulled his hands free of the deathgrip they had taken on the table. "It wasn't much of a choice. But I'm giving you all the freedom I can. We can't kill you, we can't let you go, we can't have you suicide in our custody, we can't have you powerful enough to be a liability to the village, we can't have you roaming unattended. Konoha didn't have much of a choice, either. The alternative I offered is something only I could give you. Me, not Konoha. I can track you. I can monitor you without having to seal your chakra. I can train you and work with you as a shinobi because I can be there in an instant should you ever become a liability. It's not real freedom. It does come at a price. You aren't obligated to enjoy it or to like me. That doesn't mean I can't hope you will. This is my chance to make you feel what I do. I've waited four years for this chance. I'm taking it."

"You sound like your father."

Naruto blinked, suddenly looking hesitant and young again. Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes. The moment was over. He didn't know how close he had pushed Naruto to snapping. Not close enough, too close. He didn't feel disappointed or relieved, just tired. Ashamed. Deliberately provoking an attack was the same as suiciding. He shouldn't have done that. He didn't know how to handle this. Die willingly and proudly. He couldn't be both at the same time and this was too slow a death. Do not resist. He couldn't do that without swallowing his pride. What could he do? Nothing.

"Neji said you were empty."

How many times had Naruto mentioned that name? Sasuke wondered if he realized he didn't know who he was referring to. He stared at his folded hands, letting the blonde blur across the table from him. Empty. That was his best skill. He could do it effortlessly. He'd had plenty of practice with his father. It came in handy on missions as well.

"He said all these years of imagining what you'd be like had set me up for a huge disappointment because the real you was cold and empty. A flawless tool, as a shinobi, but a horrible partner. I was mad at him for saying that. I guess I got so used to the idea of you, of us, that I took for granted we'd be perfect for each other. He was right, you're not what I expected. But I'm not disappointed. I wanted the real you, not some perfectly fake fantasy you. It's just a matter of figuring out who you are. Besides being a good shinobi, an Uchiha, and having a very sharp tongue when you're angry. I know you're pretty good at the 'blank-eyed' thing, too."

Sasuke focused enough to catch Naruto smirking at him. He gave a cool stare in response.

"What are you like?" Naruto prodded. "I'm stubborn, abrasive, sometimes childish, I tend to act without thinking first, I have a short temper depending on who I'm with, and I'm very easy to like. No, really, I am. I grow on people. Like a fungus. The itchy kind that you complain about, but secretly enjoy because it feels good when you scratch it."

Naruto flashed him a cheeky grin. Sasuke sniffed. That didn't sound like something to be proud of.

"What about you?"

"I don't know," Sasuke shrugged. "Too proud." He had been called conceited and arrogant, but never to his face. There was a reason he looked down on people too pathetic to make their insults openly. "I'm loyal to my clan." Obedient and ignorant, though again, his teacher was the only one to ever say that to his face. "Intelligent." His teacher might have argued with that, citing his ignorance of what was going on around him. That had nothing to do with his ability to learn. He had always absorbed information quickly when he was actually given access to it. "Easily bored."

"Really?" Naruto looked surprised, and pleased. "Me, too. I never had patience with the basic jutsu - I wanted to skip right to the powerful stuff. Forbidden stuff." And he grinned. "The more restricted, the better."

"I get impatient," Sasuke admitted. "If there's no challenge, it's rote. An exercise. A waste of time. I hate wasting time when I could be accomplishing something." An accomplishment that would benefit the clan. Something he no longer had to be concerned with. He stared at his folded hands. He had to stop reminding himself of that. There was no use in constantly reminding himself that he had lost his motivation, his entire purpose. Nothing he did could benefit his clan. Everything he did could potentially harm them. Better to do nothing.

"We should spar together. I want to see how good you are."

Sasuke flicked him a narrow-eyed look. "You're Anbu. I never even took the Chunin Exam."

"I'm not," Naruto said quickly. "I did that one mission and that's it." He frowned, looked away, and spoke quietly, "I couldn't kill kids my own age. That mission was horrible. We could have taken them all alive. It would have cost us extra time, but we spent too much time, anyway, thanks to you. They never stood a chance. We slaughtered them and it was for nothing. We didn't even accomplish our mission. I couldn't reconcile that. I'm not cut out for assassinations, either. I decided to stop at Jounin. You don't have to serve in Anbu to be Hokage." He shook himself like a dog shedding water. Then he smiled again, "You were being trained by a Jounin, right? Gaara said you had a personal teacher. One of the Sand shinobi?"

"He was a Jounin," Sasuke said, in a bland tone. "I don't know enough about Sand to make blanket statements, but if he was typical of their Jounin, I'd rank them even with a Chunin from Konoha or a Genin from Sound."

"A Genin!"

"According to rank. They do things differently in Sound. The few Genin I had contact with should have been ranked much higher. I suspect they weren't because it's easier for unknown Genin to get the slip on enemies than if they had made names for themselves by passing a public examination."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Would you be willing to tell us about Sound? You're not obligated to, but-"

"Anything I know," Sasuke shrugged. "I have no loyalties to them. The clan is allied to Sand, and Sound is their enemy."

"Ours, too," Naruto muttered. "Between them and Mist..." He stared for a long moment. "Sasuke, are you loyal to Itachi or your clan?"

It was strange hearing someone else ask that question. He had never expected to hear it out loud. He still didn't hesitate, "The clan."

"Okay," said Naruto. "I'm not going to ask you anything else right now. I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you, so it's better that we don't talk about it."

"You don't have to tell me anything."

"But I will if we talk about it. So let's not. Net yet, anyway."

Sasuke shrugged again. He was accustomed to delivering one-sided reports and getting nothing in return. It bothered him, humiliated him at times, but it kept him from obsessing over things he couldn't do anything about. If Konoha could use information about their enemies, he would give it. They were allied to Sand, after all. Any benefit to them was a benefit to the clan by association. He doubted that he had picked up any particularly significant information during his brief stint in Sound. But he had noticed things and heard things and he hadn't been asked to report on anything when he had returned to the clan. His father hadn't wanted to know. Or maybe it was that he had already known and hadn't wanted to acknowledge it.

"I'm done," Naruto said, getting out of his chair. He set his half emptied plate on the counter. Then he walked over to him, "Do you want anything else in here?"

"No."

Naruto took an audible breath and gave him a strange look. Wary and determined. Sasuke thought he recognized what it signified. He stared blankly at him.

"I want you to sleep with me," said Naruto. "Will you?"

As if he hadn't already agreed. As if he hadn't just reminded him of that agreement mere minutes ago. Sasuke didn't say anything. He stood up. Then he clenched his teeth. Naruto had latched onto his sleeve. Again. He shot him a seething glare and was met by a tight, mocking grin.

"Calm down," Naruto scoffed. If he were trying to sound flippant, he failed miserably, "I'll be doing a whole lot of touching in a minute. You can handle a little sleeve-tugging till then. Come on." Naruto led him down the hall and stopped outside the door on the right. "Wait here."

Sasuke watched him enter the room. It was dark, faint light coming through a curtained window. He hadn't realized it was that late. Naruto turned on a lamp, illuminating a small bedroom that was cluttered with shelves, scrolls, discarded clothing, and at least two lumps that looked suspiciously like take out bags. The room wasn't quite filthy, but it was nowhere near the conspicuous clean of the rest of the apartment. Naruto bit a thumb and smeared it over a wall scroll just inside the door. Then he came back, took hold of that sleeve he seemed so fond of, and tugged him in. He shut the door behind them.

"No one's been in here since I started renting the place," Naruto explained. "I cleaned up a little, but I couldn't let Sakura help. Gotta have some privacy, you know?"

Sasuke looked over the seemingly decorative scrolls. They were different from the ones in the livingroom. Now that they had been...deactivated?...he could see the seal used to keep people from transporting directly inside. And traps on the door. Set to Naruto's chakra frequency? Probably. Similar traps were set up around the window. Compared to the livingroom, the defense here was noteworthy.

"This is where I sleep," Naruto shrugged, as if he knew what he was thinking.

And there had been assassination attempts. Sasuke wondered if Itachi's trip to Konoha had been one of those. That would be ironic, having sex with someone his brother wanted to kill. He looked at the smear of blood Naruto had left on that scroll near the door. It was already being absorbed into the cloth. "What does that one do?"

"Smothers me," Naruto grimaced. "It took so long to set it up I can't just get rid of it, so I deactivate it as soon as I come in. I don't think it'd bother you, but it might. Makes it hard to wake up and I have bad dreams."

"What is it supposed to do?"

"Oh, it's supposed to keep Kyuubi's chakra from leaking when I sleep if I've had a really frustrating day. It doesn't, though. I get the feeling it was actually doing the opposite. I usually don't see Kyuubi unless I'm in a near death situation. With that, I saw him every night..."

Sasuke winced at the idea. He didn't know anything about demons aside from the fact that Gaara had one and there were rumors of more of them existing in other shinobi villages. They were so deadly people continued to fear them long after they were defeated and sealed inside their human hosts. Naruto's hand had clenched around his sleeve. He didn't say anything this time. After a moment, Naruto let go.

"Anyway, I stopped using it once I realized it was backfiring. I'd take it down, but it's easier to set the room to me if I link the other seals to that one. Someone might be able to duplicate my own chakra. No one could duplicate Kyuubi's. It's useful. I'll take it with me when we move. The main house is big enough for us to have separate rooms so you won't always have to wait for me to deactivate it before you can sleep."

"You don't want me to sleep with you there?"

Naruto gave a weak grin, "I'd like you to, yeah. But you'll have your own room, too, so you can get away when you're sick of me. I'm the clingy type. I'd drive you crazy if you didn't have your own space. I'll try not to smother you too much."

That was more than he had expected to get. The way Naruto had gone on, he had thought he would be watched, kept close at all hours. "Will you stay out of my room if I ask you to?"

"Of course," Naruto said quickly. "That's the idea. It'd be the place you go to when you want me to leave you alone. I tend to go outside and find a high place when I want to be alone. I don't think I'll do that much with you, but it's only fair that you have somewhere, too. I can't promise not to bug you if you're outside. If it's a room, then I can just knock if something comes up."

"That's generous of you."

Naruto shifted, rocking uneasily, "No, it's not. Generous would be me staying here and you living there. Or me not asking you to sleep with me for a few weeks so you get a chance to know me better first. That'd be generous. Hell, that'd just be considerate. But you're right," and he frowned unhappily, "we're not dating. This isn't that kind of relationship. And I couldn't stand having you live that far away from me even if it was."

"I assumed we'd be living in the same house together," Sasuke said. "I appreciate getting my own room in that house."

Naruto gave a slow nod, "Okay." He set his Anbu mask on a cluttered bookshelf and took off his jacket, tossing it over the back of a chair. "I should warn you," he said, without looking around, "once I touch you I'm not gonna let go for a while. That's why I haven't done it so far. Your first time shouldn't be in a hallway or an office or a livingroom or a kitchen. The first time is supposed to be special."

"Was yours?" Sasuke asked, in an even tone.

Naruto let out a small derogatory laugh, "No. I was trying to forget about you. It was disturbing. The more I tried, the worse it got. And then I felt guilty and sick afterward for betraying you. That was around the time I lost it. Not the easiest way to go through puberty."

Naruto tugged his shirt off without turning around. Sasuke followed his example. His shirt wouldn't be good for much of anything without a thorough washing. He folded it and set it on the stand near the bed. Dirty as it was, he would still want it later. He had never slept naked in his life and had no intention of starting now.

"Is the light going to bother you?"

"No," said Sasuke.

"Good. I want to see-" Naruto turned and cut himself off. He blushed. His eyes were too wide, too bright. He swallowed audibly. "I can't tug your sleeve now..."

Sasuke snorted. Naruto sounded disappointed, even petulant. "I can put it back on."

"No! I was..." Naruto's expression flickered through a variety of emotions before settling in a stubborn frown. "Screw it."

He had just enough time to brace himself before Naruto caught him. He was pulled close, embraced fiercely. He bore it awkwardly. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Fingers dug into his back. Uncomfortable, but not painful. Naruto ducked his face into the curve of his neck and inhaled deeply, held it, and released it in a hot gust that brought goosebumps to his arms. He forced himself not to react either by shivering or squirming. He was highly aware of the way Naruto's skin felt against his own. Smooth, heated, intimate. It was the intimacy he had issues with. He knew that. Just being held like this was strange. Naruto was hugging him. His mother had hugged him. Not since he was five, but he still remembered it. He was fairly sure hugging was not a necessary part of sex. He pressed his lips together, waiting for Naruto to get on with it. He had a long wait.

Minutes passed silent save for the sound of their breaths. They were breathing in tandem now. That was only natural considering how tightly Naruto was holding them together. Sasuke had taken to resting his hands on Naruto's shoulders, just to be doing something with them. His skin was starting to burn where those fingers were kneading his back. He wondered if Naruto even realized he was doing that. If not for his hands and chest, he was motionless, seeming perfectly content to stay that way. Indefinitely. Sasuke was starting to loathe that word.

He opened his eyes, focusing on the only aspect of this lingering embrace that was at all sexual. Naruto was aroused, had been since he had caught hold of him. How was he ignoring that? Why was he ignoring it? Irritation flared in him, mingling with impatience. He didn't like this. "Naruto."

Those hands clenched painfully, reflexively, and then slid free. Naruto pulled back to look at him, hands resting lightly on his hips, eyes a burning unnatural blue. Sasuke didn't know what to make of his expression.

"That's the first time you've said my name," Naruto murmured. He took a deep breath, his hands tightening on his hips. "Say it again."

"Get on with it and I will," said Sasuke. "I don't want to do this anymore. This...standing here."

Naruto licked his lips, frowning, "I don't want to rush you."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Rush me, Naruto."

Much more of this 'holding' and he would snap before they ever got around to the sex. Naruto's eyes widened for a moment. Then he grinned. Sasuke was swung around and pushed toward the bed. He let himself to fall. His instinct was to roll into a more defensible position the second he landed. He forced himself not to move when Naruto immediately crouched over him, knees on either side of his hips. This was what he had asked for. The quicker they finished, the less time he would have to think about it.

"You want me to hurry?" asked Naruto. There was something knowing about his grin. "Do something for me."

"Aside from calling you by your name?"

"Yeah, aside from that. I wanna see the sharingan."

"Now?" Sasuke blurted.

"The whole time. I want you to watch me the whole time, so you'll know exactly what I'm doing." He leaned over him so their faces were inches apart. His voice was husky, "I've only seen you with them once. You were really hot..."

Sasuke grimaced. He was blushing. He could feel it. He channeled his embarrassment into a sharp glare and his chakra into his eyes. Naruto groaned and ducked down to cover his mouth. He could feel the erection pressing into his stomach, a hand ghosting over his chest, and blazing eyes held his own as if challenging him to be the first to blink, to look away. Naruto pulled his lower lip into his mouth, sucked on it, staring at him the entire time, and he felt his body react. He couldn't help it. He closed his eyes and took a sharp breath through his nose.

Naruto released his lip, pushed against his mouth in a nuzzling sweep, and finally pulled back when Sasuke kept his teeth clenched. "Let me in..."

He sounded surprised, petulant again, but heated all the same. Sasuke's eyes snapped open. He didn't want to. If he let Naruto put his tongue in his mouth he would want to put more in there. He couldn't handle that. Not now. Maybe never. The very thought made his stomach churn. He would throw up. He would be humiliated. He didn't consider how Naruto might react. He didn't care. He would never be able to stand the humiliation. This wasn't like anal sex. This was his mouth.

"Sasuke," Naruto said faintly, surprise and worry breaking over his face. "Hey. Don't look like that. I was just asking to kiss you. If it bothers you that much, tell me no. I won't push." He leaned back, rising on his knees so they were barely touching. His expression was sobering rapidly, "Do you want me to stop?"

Sasuke forced himself to answer. He was blushing, grimacing, and he couldn't unclench his teeth. So much for avoiding humiliation. "No." He tried to be calm and rational and honest about this. He was only partially successful. He met Naruto's eyes, but he couldn't get rid of the blush or the humiliated strain in his voice. "You don't have to stop. But I don't want to participate in oral sex."

If Naruto was thrown by his statement, he recovered quickly. He gave a slow, thoughtful nod. "Giving or receiving? Or do you mean in general? Are you including kissing in that?"

Sasuke stared, feeling revolted, and impressed despite himself. "You'd do that?"

Naruto shrugged, not looking the least bit embarrassed, "Sure. You have to understand, I've had plenty of time to get used to this. I'm up for just about anything involving you and me. And I was planning to do that here in a minute. I expect you to squirm and make interesting noises while you're trying to keep quiet." He flashed a grin when Sasuke glared at him. He trailed the fingers of one hand down the center of Sasuke's chest so that his skin jumped reflexively. "It'll be fun. And the sex will be better, too, since you'll be ready for it by the time I'm done."

"You don't find that at all disturbing?" Sasuke demanded.

"Nope," Naruto smirked. He eased down so their noses touched, "I'd happily taste every inch of you if I hadn't agreed to hurry. It's you and you're mine," he flicked his tongue out to lap Sasuke's lips, "and you taste good."

Sasuke's face twisted. He was blushing furiously and he couldn't do a thing to stop it. He hated how easily, how casually Naruto said that. It made him feel juvenile, inadequate. As if he were making a fuss over nothing. Did that make him a coward? Afraid to try something because he didn't think he would be able to do it? Naruto tilted his head and pressed moist kisses over his jaw. He closed his eyes, letting him. It wasn't cowardly and it wasn't 'nothing'. He was genuinely disturbed by the very idea. He would try to get over it, but he didn't have to get over it right now. The agreement was that he would give it a 'few tries' before deciding anything. He would work on that next time.

"You're not looking at me," Naruto teased. "The more you close your eyes, the slower I'll go." He smiled when Sasuke's eyes snapped open. "And you never answered me. Do you count kissing as part of oral sex?"

Sasuke took a deep breath and glared. He didn't give himself time to hesitate. He caught a hand in Naruto's hair, opened his mouth, and pulled him down. He pushed his own tongue into Naruto's mouth and was rewarded by the sight of those blue eyes widening in pure shock. It didn't last long. Naruto's eyes simmered, falling till they were half-lidded. Naruto groaned into his mouth, teasing him, drawing him deeper, forcing their mouths closer together. He was glad for that. He hadn't thought past making the first move, wiping that taunting smile off his face. He curled both hands in Naruto's thick hair. It felt better to move, to feel like an actual participant in this. And he decided whatever he felt about sex itself, he didn't mind kissing. Everything they did was going straight to his groin. He wasn't even embarrassed about it because Naruto was pressing so close he could feel his erection rubbing into his stomach.

Naruto broke away with a rough gasp. He rose, panting quietly, and pressed their foreheads together so their eyes were almost too close to focus. "I could come just from kissing you," he muttered. "I'm supposed to be the one with experience and control. It's a good thing you wanted to hurry." He let out a shaky laugh and kissed him lightly, briefly. "You didn't change your mind?"

Sasuke was occupied with catching his breath. He shook his head instead of answering vocally.

Naruto levered himself up and off, with a muttered, "Too much clothes."

They finished undressing. Sasuke folded his for later, setting them with his shirt on the stand next to the bed. Naruto wadded his and tossed them in the direction of the chair. The wad fell two feet short, landing next to one of the take-out bags. Sasuke snorted at that. This was the mess he had expected when he had first come into the apartment. Naruto leaned over him to pull open the drawer of the night stand. He straightened up with a small gray jar in his hand and a surprisingly modest blush dusting his cheeks. Unlike the previous blushes Sasuke had seen, this one actually looked good on him. It made his sheepish smile seem young and cute.

"Here," Naruto said, reaching behind him, "I want you to lean back on the pillows. That way you can watch me while I do this. If it bothers you, you can close your eyes or tell me to stop." He crouched between Sasuke's bent legs and blushed some more. He leaned forward abruptly to place a kiss between his eyes. "And keep these red. Consider it a challenge. You've got awesome chakra control."

Sasuke shifted against the pillows. He knew he was blushing again. He didn't care this time. It was different when Naruto looked just as embarrassed. Naruto opened the jar, scooping out a dab of white cream and rubbing it between his fingers. Sasuke shifted again. He didn't think he could watch this. It was difficult enough just holding still. Naruto knelt between his legs and strands of his hair tickled Sasuke's thigh. He flinched and almost kicked him in the face. Naruto just managed to avoid it.

"Try to keep your legs still," Naruto said, with a weak grin. "If you want me to stop, all you have to do is say so. And, hey, you can hold my hair again if you want." His grin became cheeky. "I liked that. I promise not to complain if you get the sudden irresistible urge to take over the pace and choke me. Hell, I won't even blame you."

He snorted at that, but he did reach out to curl a hand in Naruto's hair. It gave him a feeling of control that he needed right now. He really didn't think he would be able to watch Naruto do this. With his mouth. Not to mention what he was going to do with his other hand. He took a long breath, calming himself as much as possible. His chakra control wasn't the best, but he did have good control of his body. Usually. Naruto curled his dry hand around the base of his erection and it was all he could do to keep his legs frozen in place. His stomach flexed instead. Heated blue eyes flicked up, catching his gaze, holding it, forcing him to watch as Naruto lowered his head slowly. All of his earlier revulsion surged forward the closer Naruto got. He couldn't believe he was seriously going to do that. He watched his mouth open, his tongue wetting his lips, and then it touched the tip of his erection and he heard a small involuntary sound escape his throat. He recognized it as a protest and was glad he hadn't been able to form it into an actual word.

Naruto twisted his hand, stroking him in a feathery grip that was more tormenting than pleasurable. Sasuke clenched his teeth and glared silently into laughing blue eyes. Then Naruto dipped his head and took the tip of his erection into his mouth without breaking eye contact. Sasuke blanched, choked, and almost came off the bed. Naruto applied suction and he made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. If he hadn't been horrified and aroused, he would have been humiliated to know that noise came from him. His free hand clutched and fisted the sheet beneath him. The hand he had curled in Naruto's hair jerked faintly, torn between letting him continue and pulling him away. He was suddenly terrified he would cum in Naruto's mouth.

He let out another muted, strangled sound that couldn't be classified as a groan. He tugged on his hair. "Naruto..."

Burning blue eyes glinted at him and Naruto lifted his head. Sasuke kept his own eyes locked on Naruto's. He wasn't willing to look at the saliva glistening on himself.

"What's the matter?"

"I almost-" He grimaced and stopped. He couldn't even say it. He didn't need to.

Naruto's eyes widened slowly. Then he smiled in sly, pleased way that made Sasuke distinctly nervous. "It's okay to come, Sasuke. That's the whole point."

In his mouth? His expression must have reflected his horror, because Naruto read the question and dismissed it.

"I told you I don't mind," Naruto said lightly, his head tilted so he could lap at Sasuke's erection before continuing. He smirked when Sasuke flinched at the contact. "I want you to. I want to be the reason you did. And it'll make the rest easier. Trust me a little, will you? I do know what I'm doing."

"Can't you just...do it without that?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto sighed. He was eyeing his erection sadly, with blatant disappointment, as if it were a prize about to be taken away from him. Sasuke had a sudden urge to hit him upside the head. He twisted his hand instead, tightening his hold on Naruto's hair so he winced.

"Okay," Naruto grimaced, "you win. But...next time?" He flashed a hopeful, almost woebegone look at Sasuke. "You have to let me do it at least once or else you can't really say you tried it, right?"

"Next time," Sasuke agreed. "Not now." That would give him a chance to come to grips with the idea. As it was, he couldn't stand the thought of Naruto doing that to him, for him, when there was no way he would be able to do it himself. Then he really would feel like a coward.

"I'm holding you to that," Naruto said, in what came out as a stubborn pout. He leaned forward to frown at Sasuke. "Now I can't even kiss you while we're doing this. I'd say you owe me. I'm gonna take it out of you in hickeys."

"What?"

"Hickeys," Naruto said, in a very serious tone. "Red marks about the size of my mouth where blood pools beneath the surface of the skin due to prolonged suction. You'll like it."

Sasuke's mouth dropped open just as a slick finger brushed against him. He snapped his mouth shut before a startled sound could erupt.

"Tell me if it hurts too much."

"I'm not going to break," Sasuke said scathingly. He still wanted desperately to hit him upside the head. That would be childish. Immature. He would never shame himself by doing something like that. It would be sinking to Naruto's level. He really wanted to do it at least once. Hard.

The finger slid into him, a faintly burning, uncomfortable sensation. Sasuke was abruptly distracted by a similar burning on the side of his neck where Naruto had latched onto him with his mouth. He glowered at the ceiling. Put into perspective, the 'hickey' hurt more than the finger did. Naruto pulled his mouth free with a wet popping noise. Sasuke retaliated by twisting his hand and nearly ripping a fistful of that blonde hair out by the roots. He was rewarded by a choked whimpering sound right in his ear.

"I was distracting you," Naruto pouted, when he had lifted his head enough to look at him. "You don't have to be violent about it."

Sasuke stared at him through narrow red eyes. Naruto bore a moment of that stare before cracking.

"Okay," Naruto said quickly. He gave a weak grin. "I'm sorry for teasing with you when I've got a fin-" He stopped, looked wary for a second, and then tried again without the grin. He somehow managed to look entirely serious. "I'm going to do it now. I'll go slow, but it'll still feel weird at first. You're good at relaxing, so it shouldn't hurt much. Tell me if it does and I'll stop."

"Just do it," Sasuke muttered.

At this rate he wouldn't even be aroused by the time Naruto got around to the actual sex. He leaned forward enough to watch Naruto slick himself with more of the cream. Oddly enough, after watching Naruto use his mouth, this part wasn't as disturbing. Sasuke frowned and shifted his legs into a more comfortable position. Naruto glanced up, giving him a strange, considering look.

Sasuke froze, "What?" Naruto was the one who had told him to watch.

"You're not embarrassed?" asked Naruto. He leaned forward before Sasuke could answer. "If you're not too embarrassed, the easiest way to do this your first time would be for you to lower yourself onto me. That way you can wait for your muscles to relax and do it at your own pace. If you're too embarrassed, that's fine, but-"

"How?" Sasuke demanded. "What do I do?"

Naruto beamed at him and leaned forward. He caught himself at the last minute and pressed the kiss on Sasuke's cheek instead of his mouth. "Trade places with me." They repositioned themselves so that Naruto was leaning against the headboard with Sasuke kneeling over his hips. Naruto pulled his arms so he was braced on his shoulders and gripped Sasuke's hips to support him. "Just go slow. Don't get impatient and hurt yourself."

Sasuke blocked him out. He positioned himself and lowered and immediately met resistance. He had loosened the muscles he had control over. This was an involuntary one. He understood what Naruto had meant about waiting. After a bit, the muscle relaxed on its own. He pushed and grimaced at the burning pressure. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel good, either. It felt strange, unnatural. If it felt like this when he did it to himself, how bad would it have felt if Naruto had done it to him? He continued down, letting out a quiet breath when he was fully seated. And he realized, belatedly, that Naruto must have been staring at him the entire time. His head snapped up, a humiliated blush already blooming on his face. He was disarmed by the look Naruto was giving him. A hand lifted from his waist, brushed his cheek, and pulled him into a soft kiss. He forgot why Naruto wasn't supposed to kiss him. It didn't distract him from the sensation of being stretched and full and uncomfortable. But it rid him of the self-disgusted blush and he was glad to have that gone.

Naruto shifted the kiss to his neck, nipping and sucking and probably leaving another of those marks, judging by the burning sensation. Sasuke rested his forehead on his shoulder and let him. He was starting to wonder if it might have been better if he had come earlier. Not in Naruto's mouth, he still wasn't ready for that. But he would have had an easier time being patient if he had already finished. A hand curled around his erection, giving a tentative stroke. Sasuke muffled a groan against Naruto's shoulder. He had clenched around that length and been reminded of exactly how deep in him Naruto was. He had never felt anything like this steady discomfort. He wanted it over.

"You can move," Naruto murmured, still kissing his way along his neck and shoulder. He turned his head, breathing against Sasuke's hair. "Find a position that suits you."

"I don't want to move," Sasuke muttered tensely. He decided Naruto was simply too deep in him. He had waited a few minutes now and it seemed to be getting worse instead of better. It didn't burn as much, but the pressure was starting to hurt his stomach. He couldn't stand the thought of moving, of possibly driving him even deeper into him. What if it did permanent damage? It was possible. His body certainly hadn't been designed for this. He pushed his forehead harder into Naruto's shoulder. "Can you tilt me back? There's too much pressure like this."

Naruto lifted him up a little, and Sasuke groaned in relief. Definitely the pressure. He would have to make sure to switch positions immediately the next time they did this. Naruto lowered him carefully on his back and the movement inside him brought another groan to his lips. A good one this time. Naruto started to pull out more and he caught a hand in his hair, the other on his hip to hold him in place.

"I didn't say stop," Sasuke muttered. He opened his eyes to glare blearily at him. "Are you in that much of a hurry to quit?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You didn't. It was the position. I stayed in it too long." He shifted tentatively and pulled Naruto closer. "This is better."

"Are you sure?" Naruto frowned.

He looked stricken, concerned, guilty. Sasuke marveled at the irony of having to be the one encouraging Naruto to finish what he had started. It finally felt good and now he wanted to stop? He gave a pointed glare, "Do you really want me to change my mind?"

Naruto looked at him for a long moment and then shook his head decisively, "No."

"Then move."

He did, entering slowly until they were flush against each other. He leaned down and pressed a light kiss on Sasuke's mouth. "Your eyes are black," he said. He gave it like an apology.

"I was distracted," Sasuke muttered, defensively. He was taking it as an insult.

Naruto lifted his legs so they were braced on his arms, changing the angle slightly. When he moved it was at the same slow tentative pace he was stroking Sasuke's erection. Pleasant, but not enough to accomplish anything. Sasuke pushed his hips up to meet him and caught his eye with an unsatisfied glare. It came out red.

"You said you would hurry," he reminded him. "Do it. You're not going to break me."

Naruto scowled at him for a moment and then gave a hard angled thrust that sent a shard of something besides semi-pleasant friction through him. Sharp, intense, entirely unexpected. Sasuke let out a cry, too shocked to be embarrassed. He choked back another when Naruto did it again. By the time Naruto settled into a fast rhythm, he had a fist pressed over his mouth to keep the sounds in. He tried to glare at him for not doing this sooner, for not telling him it would feel like this. He suspected it came out more as a glassy-eyed stare. He couldn't tell if he still had the sharingan activated or not. Naruto was stroking his erection too hard, too loose, at odds with his steady thrusts. Clearly, he was having just as much trouble focusing. He was also making more noise than him. Sasuke supposed that was because Naruto didn't have any free hands to sink his teeth into. He was still louder. And that blue-eyed scowl was every bit as dazed as Sasuke felt. Then Naruto was pulling his hand away and covering his mouth with his own and he couldn't have said which of them finished first. He didn't care. It didn't affect the aftermath.

He was a mess. Sticky, exhausted, and Naruto was lying on him, head ducked against his neck so his breaths were uncomfortably hot. He was still inside him. Sasuke pushed on his shoulder. Tiredly at first, then with more force. It was over. They had both come and now he wanted him out. He had to clean up right now. He didn't dare fall asleep like this.

"Naruto," he growled, pulling on that blonde hair. "Get off."

"...Mnh?"

Naruto pushed himself up on one arm, blinking down at him. Sasuke grimaced. The cream Naruto had used wasn't doing its job anymore. Naruto seemed to notice it too, though he had to shift a few more times before he woke up enough to understand. He flushed a reddish purple and all but jumped off him. Sasuke hissed and lashed out without thinking. He hit him upside the head.

"Idiot," Sasuke growled. "Do you know how much that hurt?"

"I'm sorry!" Naruto blurted, one hand on his abused head. He reached his other hand toward Sasuke and then pulled back, as if he had just realized touching him again might be a bad idea right now. "I didn't mean to. Are you okay?" Sasuke slid off the bed and he lurched after him. "Don't go!"

Sasuke recognized the panic for what it was and sighed. "I'm taking a shower. I'll be back."

"Oh. Do you need anything...?"

He eyed his stack of clothing distastefully. The bathroom was just across the hall. He still couldn't bring himself to make the walk naked. He pulled the clothing on, grimacing at the fresh stains he was likely making. "Do you have something clean I can change into?"

"Sure!" Naruto hopped up, not the least bit self conscious about his own unclothed state. He rummaged in a drawer, then another, and finally found something suitable. He handed the pile to Sasuke with a tentative smile, as if he were afraid he might get another knock to the head. "I'll wait up for you."

"You don't need to," Sasuke frowned. He was just going across the hall.

"I have to let you back in the room."

"Oh. Right."

.-.  
TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Smut, NaruSasu, SasuNaru, NaruSasuNaru

"Sasuke? Are you awake?"

If he hadn't been awake, that whisper, spoken into the nape of his neck, would have woken him for sure. "Yes," said Sasuke. He was glad for an excuse to open his eyes. Although he hadn't bothered to feign sleep, he had shut himself down as much as possible without actually dozing off. Naruto, on the other hand, was either better at faking sleep than he had given him credit for, or had dozed lightly enough to wake without alerting him. He could have sworn the boy was deep asleep. "Why?"

There had never been any chance of him sleeping that night. At first Naruto had left plenty of space between them, but in place of the physical contact he so obviously craved, he had stared for over an hour, devouring him with his gaze until Sasuke wanted to scream at him. In the end, he hadn't screamed, hadn't even sighed in resignation once Naruto was finally pressed snug and content against his back. He had already cemented his resignation in the shower. The way Naruto had panicked at having him leave his sight for a few short minutes warned him of what the immediate future would be like. He thought he understood for the most part.

He was basically a new toy, though he preferred to think of himself as a new weapon, for pride's sake. A katana, to be specific, because he had been wanting one of his own for the last four years, the same amount of time Naruto claimed to have been wanting him. His father's blade had gone to Itachi and what wages he had earned from missions before coming back home had gone to his father. The clan and those hiring him had always supplied the equipment he used, and retained ownership of them once the task was completed. A new blade of his own was something he had wanted, knowing full well he had no way of acquiring one, so it was easy to compare that to the way Naruto viewed him. Having finally gotten what he wanted, he was wary of damaging it, losing it, or having it taken away from him. Once Naruto realized he wasn't going anywhere, he would relax, his focus would turn to other matters, and the shiny new blade would just be one more weapon in his arsenal.

Until that newness wore off, Sasuke had known sleep would be impossible. He was accustomed to solo missions and had honed his senses to react to the slightest change in his surroundings. Those reactions were especially dangerous now. It didn't matter that someone of Naruto's skill level should sleep lightly enough to deflect an attack. Any attack at all would be a breach of the Hokage's terms. He was confident he would be able to stop himself before delivering a deadly blow, but serious injury was a very real possibility. He would have to train himself to identify Naruto as an acceptable part of his personal space. That meant resting lightly and getting used to the scent, sound, and feel of him. He just hoped Naruto didn't have the same instincts he did. If Naruto was startled awake and lashed out at him, he would react with deadly force, and he doubted the Hokage would accept self defense as a valid excuse for killing his son.

Naruto snuggled closer, sliding an arm around his waist and pulling him back until they were flush against one another. "It was over too soon," he sighed. "It's so much better than that, really."

He wanted to do it again. For one frightening moment, Sasuke was poised to explode, either in blind panic or outrage. Fortunately, reason intervened before he could say or do something he would regret. It was the newness. He should have expected this, should have known he wouldn't get off that easily. What good was a new blade if he couldn't test its limits? A rushed, half-hearted fight wouldn't tell him anything, and certainly wouldn't be satisfying after the long wait. He knew that. But he honestly hadn't thought he would have to do it again for at least a few days. Although he had enjoyed parts of it, namely the kissing and that hectic finish, Naruto's...dismount...had left him feeling more than a little raw. He didn't look forward to mincing his way to the bathroom a second time before daybreak. That whining complaint hadn't fully formed in his mind before he crushed it. He had never been one to complain about pain and this minor discomfort didn't even qualify as that. The hard truth was that he hadn't expected to enjoy any part of this arrangement. He had enjoyed it and with Naruto's determination to make him 'happy', he would probably end up enjoying it again. He had no right to complain. If anything, he should have been grateful that Naruto wasn't taking advantage of the power he had over him. If all he had wanted was sex, he could have had that, as much as he liked, without even taking him out of his cell. It wasn't as if he could do anything to stop him.

"Sasuke...?"

He rolled away slowly, giving Naruto a chance to release him, before sitting up. Naruto quickly sat up to face him. All it took was one look at the guilt and wariness on Naruto's face to tell him how lucky he was. If he refused, Naruto wouldn't push. Naruto wouldn't have even touched him again tonight, if he hadn't been so nervous and frustrated by the staring that he had given him permission to. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing!" Naruto promptly blushed, his honesty getting the better of him. "Okay, a million things, but you don't have to do anything! Honest. It's too soon, I know that. And you've had a rough few days, you need your sleep."

"I won't sleep tonight regardless," Sasuke admitted. He was doing it again, he realized. Hadn't he been the one to push Naruto into continuing earlier? On some level he didn't want this to be simple, easy, or even pleasant. This was supposed to be the price of his freedom. If he wasn't working for it, wasn't doing anything at all to earn it, then what was he doing here? He could hardly defend his choice by claiming he had been blackmailed into it when Naruto refused to pressure him. "You're making it far too easy for me to take advantage of you."

"What? Wait..." Naruto held one hand up and frowned off into the distance. Suddenly his eyes widened, his hand dropping to clench in his lap. A grin spread over his face and he gave an odd little hop where he sat on the bed. "Are you saying you want to? Take advantage of me? Because I'm totally okay with that!"

Sasuke had no idea why he looked so excited, his reaction was completely wrong. He scowled and tried again. "I was warning you." It was only right to do so, considering how fair and lenient Naruto was being with him. Too lenient for his own good, but he didn't feel compelled to point that out. "Do you want to be taken advantage of?"

"By you? Of course I do! Absolutely!" Naruto gave an exasperated laugh. "You can take advantage of me any time you want, Sasuke. And you don't have to warn me first. Hell, even if I'm asleep, I won't mind. If you feel like jumping me, just roll me over and have at it. I'm up for it any time you are!"

"You-" A lump of air became lodged in Sasuke's throat and he nearly choked on it, his face flaming red. What kind of pervert did this person have to be to twist his words that way? "I wasn't talking about that!"

"Eh?"

"I meant in general," Sasuke ground out. "You shouldn't make it so easy for me to take advantage of you. In general. I didn't mean-" He grimaced. "I have no intention of...jumping you."

"Oh." Naruto wilted, the color and happiness draining out of his face. He searched Sasuke's face and sighed at what he saw there. "You're not the slightest bit tempted?"

"No."

"Are you attracted to me at all...?"

"No."

Sasuke frowned when Naruto wilted even more. If he curled in on himself any further, he would be in a fetal position. He didn't understand why Naruto was upset or even surprised by his answer. Were men in Konoha usually attracted to him? His features were certainly exotic compared to the people Sasuke was used to, and he obviously kept himself in shape. He didn't seem to have any off-putting features except the marks on his face, but Sasuke considered those striking in a positive way. Maybe Naruto was used to having men lust after him. For all he knew, it could be quite common here.

"Is it because I'm a guy?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Probably." He couldn't say for sure because- Sasuke's eyes dropped suddenly. Naruto was forming hand seals. He tensed, unwilling to act until he knew what exactly Naruto was doing. He shouldn't have been so honest. If his answers had angered Naruto enough to use a jutsu on him, then it was on his own head. He had undoubtedly bruised his pride.

"Oiroke no jutsu!"

If Sasuke hadn't braced himself, he would have fallen off the bed. Instead, his mouth dropped open and his left eye ticked. He was wrong, he realized. Naruto had no pride to be bruised. There was no other explanation. He blinked slowly as he took in the henge. The face was rounder, the eyes even bigger, the hair ridiculously long and held up in a tail on either side of his...or, rather, her...head. The body was very different, thin arms, each breast as large as the head, a tapered waist, and the curve of large hips visible beneath the blankets. Sasuke felt his nose twitch and forced his eyes back up to stare, utterly appalled, at Naruto's beaming face.

"Is this better?" Naruto grinned.

"No," Sasuke blurted, in what came out more like a croak then a shout.

"Eh? Why not? Is it the hair color? The breasts?" Naruto cupped his oversized breasts, forcing them to perk in defiance of gravity. "Do you want them bigger?"

"No!" This time it was definitely a shout. Sasuke pressed his hands over his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. When he finally lowered them, he found Naruto pouting those pink lips and looking at him with confusion in his overly large eyes. He couldn't think of anything that could be more disturbing. "What are you doing...?" What was he thinking?

"This is one of my special techniques!" Naruto grinned. "I perfected it when I was just a kid. Back then I used mist to hide the naughty parts, but it still made my teachers blow at the nose." His feminine voice took on a sultry tone, "It never fails to get the straight men hot." He leaned closer and blinked when Sasuke cringed away. His smile was quickly replaced by confusion again. "Um...except for you, huh? You really don't like it?"

"No, I don't," Sasuke snapped. He was forced to scoot back when Naruto continued to lean toward him, those swaying breasts threatening to smack right into him. "Why did you transform into that?"

"I thought you'd like it better," Naruto said, frowning now. "If this isn't your type, just tell me what's wrong and I can fix it." Silence spread over them for a long while. Naruto huffed, folding his arms over his chest, underneath the breasts. He didn't miss the way Sasuke's eye twitched at the sight. "Are you sure you're attracted to girls?"

Sasuke scowled at him. "No. I never said I was."

"But you would have married one, right? If none of this had happened?"

"Yes. Arranged marriages are an Uchiha tradition."

"And you would have had sex with her, right?" Naruto prodded.

Sasuke shifted irritably, "Yes. To produce an heir. Will you undo that henge now?"

"In a minute. So you were planning to marry a woman and have sex with her. That means you've imagined it, right? Or at least thought about it before?" Naruto leaned toward him again, his eyes narrowing. "Touch them."

"Wha-" Sasuke watched dumbly as Naruto grabbed his wrist and smooshed his hand into one of those breasts. It was silky soft and squishy and had he eaten any more earlier, it would have all come right back up. He yanked his arm free and was out of the bed in seconds. He felt utterly violated. "What's wrong with you!"

"Me?" Naruto asked, a weird smile pulling at his lips. "What's wrong with you, Sasuke? Are you saying you would never have touched your wife's breasts?"

"I don't know what I would or wouldn't have done," Sasuke said scathingly, "but it makes no difference now. I'll never marry."

"Because of me," Naruto acknowledged. "You'll never get to have sex with a woman because of me, because I can't let you. But I can turn into one for you, see? I can look however you want me to."

"It's not real!"

"It feels real. It'll feel just as good as the real thing and I can hold it as long as you want, whenever you want. Well, when it's just the two of us." He grinned sheepishly, scratching his head and inadvertently sending his breasts swaying again. "I can't use this in public. Even when I'm dressed, I still cause nose bleeds."

Sasuke closed his eyes and spoke as calmly and quietly as he could. "Please undo the henge, Naruto."

"Kai!"

He had to take a few deep breaths before he felt calm enough to return to the bed. Even then, it was a while before he could look at Naruto. He had never felt so insulted in his entire life. "Let me see if I understand this correctly," he said, in a tightly controlled voice. "You're offering to transform yourself into a female in order to make it easier for me to have sex with you?"

"Yeah..."

The insult burned so badly it was a physical pain in his chest. "Who do you think I am?" he hissed. "I agreed to this knowing full well that you're male. I don't need you to degrade yourself to make anything easier for me. If my performance is what drove you to this, then that's your fault, not mine. You should have done it the way you wanted to and to hell with anything I had to say about it. You're the one with experience in this, not me."

Naruto recoiled, stricken, looking as if he might cave into that upright fetal position again. Then anger swept over his face so abruptly Sasuke barely spotted it in time to brace himself. He was shoved back against the bed and held there, an arm pressing down over his chest and Naruto baring his teeth in his face. Sasuke blanked his own face, unwilling to provoke or placate.

"You don't understand correctly," Naruto said flatly. "At all. There is nothing degrading to me about assuming a form you like. If you don't like it, that's fine, I won't bother. It makes no difference to me, either way. As for your performance, if I hadn't loved it, I wouldn't be dying to get inside you again. And I am. Dying, that is. But I also want you inside me. Since you're not attracted to me, I thought you might like it better if I had a vagina for you to use. I'd love it either way, so again, it makes no difference to me. And, just to be clear, I will never just do what I want and ignore what you have to say because I don't want that. Maybe I could make you like it, even if you didn't want to do it in the first place, but that sure as hell won't make you like me. And that's more important to me than whether we ever have sex again or not." Naruto shoved himself off, flopping on his back beside him with an angry huff.

Sasuke had no idea what to say to that. He stared up at the ceiling for a while, watching the vague flickers cast upon it by the lamp, which Naruto had never turned off. It might have hindered his staring session earlier if he had. He wondered if he should apologize. He wasn't going to, whether he should or not. One thing Naruto had said bothered him more than the rest. He frowned. "You want me inside you?" Small tremors shook the bed beside him. He was just turning to look when Naruto rolled over and buried his face in his shoulder. He was laughing.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, smothering his laughter in Sasuke's sleeve. "You just sounded so confused, like the thought never even occurred to you. You can't tell me it didn't feel good. Of course I want to feel it, too. Besides, I told you I was up for just about anything involving you and me. I throw the 'just about' in there because there are a few things I don't think either of us would want to try. Like animals, certain food products..." He pushed himself up quickly so he could catch Sasuke's expression, which he promptly laughed at. "Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm fine with most kinks, but there are some that even I have to draw the line at. You should read some of the novels my God Father wrote. They'd turn your hair as white as his."

"No, thank you." He didn't even want to know how animals and 'certain food products' were used for sex. He frowned when Naruto dropped down to curl against his side again. "Would you want me to do it to you the same way you did it to me?" Naruto popped up again, looking him over warily. Sasuke couldn't meet his eyes. "I'm not ready to perform oral sex on you."

"You don't have to," Naruto said quickly. "In fact, I don't want you to. As badly as I want you right now, I'd come the second your mouth touched me and then you'd never speak to me again. Let's put that away in a 'someday, if you really want to' drawer and forget about it, okay?"

"Alright." It was pathetic how relieved he felt. He sat up, waiting for Naruto to join him before meeting his eyes. "Tell me what to do."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully, looking from him to the pillows and back again. Then a sly smirk curved his lips. "Toss me the gray jar and undress. Then get under the covers and leave the rest to me, okay?"

"Am I doing this, or are you?" Sasuke frowned, once he had slipped under the covers. He was particularly suspicious about the covers. He wouldn't even be able to see what they were doing with their lower halves covered, and they would likely make a mess of the bed this way.

"Both," Naruto grinned. "I'll get us started, but don't worry, once we get going you'll catch the hang of it real fast." He slipped under the covers and sat down on Sasuke's thighs. When he leaned forward their cocks pressed together and a light blush broke out on his cheeks. He tilted his head to nibble on Sasuke's ear. "Touch me anywhere you want as long as it's above the waist. If you don't want to touch me at all, that's fine, too. I'm not going to rush this time, so don't get impatient with me, okay? If I do something you really don't like, tell me and I'll stop. But try to enjoy it before you make up your mind." He rocked his hips, his voice husky. "It's so much better if you feel more and think less. I promise."

Just because Sasuke wasn't attracted to him didn't mean he didn't want to touch him. He had already discovered this was better if he moved, participated. Was it an insult on him that Naruto expected him to simply lie there, too reserved or useless to do anything? Or was Naruto insulted, thinking he wasn't attracted to him enough to want to touch him? It wasn't Naruto in particular. He had never been attracted to anyone. He simply hadn't. Aside from waking up hard a few times, and dismissing it as puberty, he hadn't dwelt on the issue. He had heard enough from older shinobi during his various stays to know that most seemed absurdly obsessed with the topic, and disgustingly eager to share their exploits. He hadn't shared their interest. Even back then he had known the difference was that he was an Uchiha and they weren't. As he grew older, he understood better. His parents had been first cousins, but he knew, if it were deemed necessary, the clan would wed brother to sister in order to preserve the bloodline. Sex for them was about duty and reproduction. Attraction had nothing to do with it. Maybe if he explained that to Naruto he wouldn't expect it from him, and neither of them would be insulted when he failed to get it.

Naruto kissed him suddenly, pushing him back into the pillow. His tongue plunged into his mouth and ravaged it. Sasuke was caught by such surprise that his eyes flew open and he made no effort to reciprocate. Naruto's eyes were closed, but his brows were drawn in concentration. That fit with the way he seemed so intent on mapping every bit of his mouth he could reach with that roving tongue. By the time the assault on his mouth ended, Sasuke barely had the breath to whisper. "Naruto...?"

"You weren't listening," Naruto huffed. He ducked forward to nip at Sasuke's lower lip. "Just feel, Sasuke. Stop thinking so much. Or at least think about me while we're doing this."

"I was thinking about you."

Naruto bit his lower lip again, harder this time. "Then try thinking something about me that doesn't make you tense up and drift off like that. Stay with me, Sasuke. We're just getting started. You have to stay with me to the end."

Sasuke didn't understand how Naruto could possibly feel insecure, considering the position he was in. He caught a hand in his hair. "I'm not going anywhere," he reminded him. Ever. He pulled him down for a proper kiss and this time Naruto drew him into his own mouth, rocking his hips and arching up against him. The gentle contact was nice, but he knew his own reaction came more from the kiss than from that teasing, subtle motion. It was all lips and tongues and heat and the little sounds Naruto made with each breath he let out. Was he even aware of those? Naruto shifted the kiss to his neck and Sasuke whispered into his ear, "I like hearing you." The effect was instant; Naruto shuddered and muffled a mournful little whimper against his skin. Sasuke supposed he should have felt guilty for taking advantage of him, but he had warned him not to make it so easy. Besides, it was just the truth.

Fingers tickled feather-light up his sides, thumbs drawing a heavy line up his stomach to his chest, where they paused, rubbing and circling his nipples. The mood was almost shattered completely when Sasuke recalled the squishy breast Naruto had shoved his hand into. He was no female. What did Naruto hope to accomplish with that? He was answered by his own body. It started as a tingle, a burn, and then the fingers pinched tight and he hissed at the sting. It hurt!

Naruto huffed a laugh from where he was abusing his neck. "Did that surprise you?"

He pulled on Naruto's hair, using a kiss to shut that laughing mouth up, except not, because he immediately began to make those little sounds again. Naruto's fingers were rolling and squeezing his nipples, both of which were especially sensitive now. Ever so often he gave a painful pinch, punctuated by a hard rocking rub of their cocks together. Sasuke released his hair so he could retaliate in form and Naruto immediately returned to licking, sucking, and biting at his neck, but on the other side now. He was undoubtedly leaving red marks. Sasuke had seen quite a few of them in the bathroom mirror earlier. He didn't want to think about how many he would have by the time they were done. Naruto's nipples were already pebbled and hard when his hands found them. He gave them a tentative squeeze and Naruto flinched, yelping his name. Was that a good yelp or a bad yelp? It sounded like a good one to his ears, but he couldn't be sure so he tried it again, a little harder.

"That hurts...!" Naruto whined. His head flew up the second Sasuke started to remove his hands. He sent him a liquid, half-lidded, look and a somewhat exasperated smile. "That doesn't mean stop, Sasuke. It hurts good." And he gave a nasty little pinch that had Sasuke wincing and glowering up at him. "Right?"

"Masochist," Sasuke accused.

"Only for you," Naruto said sweetly, before attacking his mouth with a vengeance.

Although Sasuke didn't freeze up in surprise, he didn't try very hard to drive the invading tongue out, either. He kept it company until it had its fill and then followed it home to return the favor. Naruto squirmed and gasped and had no problem with that at all. Then the mouth was gone, a hot fleeting path down his neck as Naruto backed up, pulling the edge of the blanket up over him so it framed his face like a cowl. Sasuke started to lean up, but a quick hand on his shoulder kept him down.

"This is the tough part for you," Naruto explained, "and the fun part for me. It'll probably go smoother if you can't see what I'm doing. Just try not to think too much. Please?" He started to pull the blanket the rest of the way over his head and paused suddenly. His eyes dropped and a wicked grin came to his face. "Oh...I can't pass that up..." He ducked his head, closed his mouth over one of Sasuke's nipples, and sucked hard.

"Shit!" Sasuke bit out. That wasn't some simple sting, it felt as if his nipple were on fire. He clenched his teeth when Naruto quickly did the same to the other one. When Naruto released him, both nipples looked every bit as inflamed as they felt, and Naruto looked inordinately pleased with the results. "What was that for?" Sasuke demanded.

"Didn't want them to miss me while I was gone," Naruto said impishly. He pulled the cover over his head before Sasuke could muster a proper glare to send at him.

Sasuke was left directing his outraged glare at a blanketed lump. He had never been aware of his nipples having any sensations at all. Now they ached, and he had an embarrassing urge to rub them. That was probably the very reason Naruto had done it. He clenched his hands in the pillow instead. He was not going to be tricked into masturbation, even if Naruto wasn't in a position to watch. And Naruto certainly wasn't. He bent and spread his legs as Naruto crouched between them. It was so weird not being able to see what he was doing. He understood why Naruto wanted to do it this way, but it was humiliating that this was necessary at all. It was bad enough that he couldn't do it himself. Why was he so disturbed by the thought of Naruto doing it? Naruto actually wanted to do it.

He had braced himself for the contact, the wetness, but when it came it was in completely the wrong place. Naruto nuzzled the side of his knee and licked the underside. Sasuke jumped, instinctively straightening the leg a little. He wished he hadn't when he felt a familiar burn set up there. The idiot was leaving a hickey on the back of his leg. Was Naruto trying to make sure that anyone who saw him knew exactly what they had been up to? Probably. That sounded just like something Naruto would do. He would decide whether or not to foil his plan once they were finished and he had a chance to survey the damage. Or maybe it had merely been a distraction. One second his attention was on his leg and the next thing he knew, Naruto had swallowed him whole.

His back arched and he let out a choked shout. No warning, no teasing, and the slow rubbing from earlier hadn't prepared him at all for such direct stimulation. He could feel Naruto's lips closed around the base of his cock, sucking him in, his tongue rubbing and curling and sliding, and his throat swallowing around the head. Firm hands were holding his hips in place and he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't as if he could get any deeper into Naruto's mouth, and with the bed behind him he couldn't exactly pull away. It was his back that moved, bowed and trembling, his toes digging into the sheet. He was struggling desperately not to come. He wouldn't stop Naruto this time, not if he could help it, but he couldn't come like this. Naruto couldn't possibly breathe as it was. If he came now he wouldn't even be able to swallow or cough it up, he could feel it himself, trickling down his throat agonizingly slowly. A low sound started in his throat, somewhere between a whine and a whimper, and Naruto finally eased up. One of those hands stroked his back where it had left the bed, the other massaging his stomach, coaxing him down. He let himself be coaxed, but he couldn't relax, couldn't trust it. Naruto would do it again and he wouldn't have any warning, he couldn't even see him.

At least he could feel Naruto's breaths now, cool against his damp flesh. Naruto took the head of his cock into his mouth, sucking lightly, his tongue rubbing, pressing, and sliding along the slit. Then he took it deeper, his lower teeth dragging lightly along the underside as he let it back out. Sasuke shuddered, hearing another strangely broken sound that he didn't want to acknowledge as his own. He brought a fist to his mouth and bit down until he tasted blood. Naruto had said he wouldn't torture him. Surely this counted as torture. He could feel himself panicking, his heart racing, his body breaking into a cold sweat, and he wasn't facing some deadly enemy, it was just oral sex. He wasn't even the one performing it. He should have been trained to get rid of this, this phobia. He was so close, and Naruto must have felt it because he bobbed faster, taking him deeper, sucking harder. Sasuke wouldn't stop him, refused to back out again, but he could at least warn him. "Naruto!" he cried, hating the sound of his voice. "Na-"

Naruto swallowed him down, gripping his ass and lodging him as deeply as he could get. Sasuke choked, clenching his eyes and teeth. He had known Naruto would do that. He had known he would. But he couldn't stop himself this time. The hot vacuum of Naruto's mouth and what he imagined it must feel like for him, suffocating, drowning, it was wonderful and horrible, swirled in a muddy mess. It seemed to take him forever to come down. When he finally did, he couldn't move. He lay panting, gasping for air, and his body trembled, cold above the blanket, hot below. Naruto's mouth was gone, but he was still touching him, licking him gently, and he was too sensitive even for that. How was he supposed to do anything now, after that? He felt as if every bone in his body had been reduced to mush.

He heard a sound he couldn't place, like a quiet scraping. His instincts said it was familiar, not a threat, and refused to put forth the effort required to make a better identification. Then something slick ran along the cleft of his ass, Naruto's hand, and he realized the sound had come from the jar. The little gray jar. Naruto had taken it under the covers with him. Was he going to have sex with him now, then? He was certainly relaxed enough. But if Naruto thought he would have the energy to reciprocate afterward, he was going to be disappointed. A finger slipped into him easily, it didn't even burn, but then there were two more. They twisted, bending and pushing, until Naruto found what he was looking for. Sasuke flinched as his nerves woke in one heated wave. He had forgotten about that. The effect was similar to having a burnt chakra path awakened, he thought, with tired amusement. That spot didn't feel as good right now as it had during sex earlier, more of an uneasy throbbing sensation than the spikes of raw pleasure he had felt before, but it had the desired effect. Naruto continued to apply sweeping pressure to it, milking it almost, and licking and sucking lightly on the underside of his cock as it slowly became erect again. Sasuke could feel it happening and was suddenly glad it was too dark under the covers for Naruto to see it himself. It was embarrassing that he needed that sort of stimulation to get hard again.

The fingers were withdrawn, and then a slick hand was lathering his cock. It wasn't until Naruto sat up, tossing the blanket back and climbing over him, that Sasuke understood. Naruto's face was dusted with an appealing blush, but he looked so damned pleased with himself that Sasuke glowered back at him. This only made Naruto smile wider as he came up to sit lightly on his stomach. Instead of kissing him, as Sasuke had expected he would, Naruto licked his chin and lips, detouring briefly to lap a path across his cheek. The behavior seemed bizarre until Naruto grabbed his right hand and licked at the bites he had made. He must have gotten blood on his face. Sasuke hadn't realized he had bitten that deeply. He hoped he hadn't gotten any on the pillow.

"You didn't have to do that," Naruto sighed, turning Sasuke's hand and eying the damage. He gave one more gentle lick before letting Sasuke pull it away. "I like hearing you, too, you know."

It was a lot more embarrassing hearing that from Naruto than it had been to say it to him. Probably because he didn't like the fact that he had made any noise at all. Sasuke would have glared if Naruto hadn't chosen that moment to scoot backwards. Naruto reached back to tilt his cock into position before pushing down on it. He was too tight. Sasuke would have known that even if he hadn't seen the grimace on Naruto's face. He caught his hips, stilling him. "Wait. You're not relaxed. Do you need me to...stretch you or something?"

Naruto let out a pained laugh. "Thanks for the offer. But I want it to hurt. It's like you're taking my maidenhead."

"Wha-" Sasuke hissed when Naruto suddenly forced himself all the way down. The tightness burned him enough that he could only imagine how it had felt for Naruto. Judging by the guttural whine coming from his throat, it was leaning toward awful. "Why-"

"Maidenhead," Naruto repeated, gritting his teeth. "You were a virgin, but I'm not. This way I can feel like one." He opened his eyes and smiled a little at Sasuke's blank expression. "It's something I read about. Girls have this barrier, thin in some, thicker in others. The first time they have sex, it breaks and bleeds, and then they're not a maiden, not a virgin anymore. I don't know if it hurts more or less than this, but I like the idea."

"Masochist."

"I like sentimental fool better," Naruto huffed. He rocked slightly and then slumped over Sasuke's chest, clenching around him as he did so. "You have no idea how important this is to me," he whispered, nuzzling Sasuke's neck. "Don't make fun."

"I'm sorry." He wondered if Naruto would have given himself a 'maidenhead' if he had agreed to have sex with him in that female form. Naruto had warned him of his obsession. He supposed this was another part of it. He wrapped his arms around Naruto's back in an effort to keep him still. He obviously wasn't giving himself a chance to get used to this. Sasuke couldn't stop him from clenching, no more than he could stop himself from enjoying the sensation, but he could keep him from rocking and shifting around so much. "Be still for a minute."

"No chance," Naruto groaned. "I told you not to get impatient with me, I didn't say anything about me getting that way. I can't wait. I want you thrusting into me when I come." He clenched so tightly that Sasuke flinched, his knees drawing up to press against his back. Then he tugged on his shoulder. "Roll us over, just like I did with you."

For a moment Sasuke wasn't sure how to accomplish that. Luckily his arms didn't shake when he pushed himself into sitting position. Naruto wrapped his arms around his neck, his legs curling around his waist till the ankles crossed. He kept an arm around Naruto's back as he lowered him. He ended up pulling out a little on the way down, drawing a ragged breath from him and another groan from Naruto. A flex of those legs had them flushed together again. Naruto released the hold on his neck and caught his hands instead, entwining their fingers and pulling him down until he was leaning with his palms braced against the pillows, pushing Naruto's hands down to either side of his head. As if he were restraining him. Sasuke balked at the sight, not liking the smolder of satisfaction that bubbled up at having him in this position. He reminded himself that Naruto was the one who had set it up this way, not him.

Naruto's eyes were smokey blue when he opened them, and he finally relaxed, just a little. He took a shaky breath, nestling his head back more comfortably into the pillow. He licked his lips and loosened his legs enough that Sasuke would be able to move freely. Then he smiled. "Can I get the sharingan again? Just for a little bit?"

Maybe that was the real reason Naruto had become obsessed with him, Sasuke thought to himself. He had acquired the sharingan halfway through that fight, and Naruto had said his attention had been caught 'like a flash'. It wasn't likely Naruto would have run across any other Uchiha before him. He channeled his chakra to his eyes and smirked when Naruto let out a little moan. Did this count as a kink?

"Perfect," Naruto sighed. "You should see yourself, Sasuke." He curled his fingers tight in Sasuke's grip and tilted his hips up. "Move, please."

Sasuke moved tentatively, watching Naruto's face. He still thought he was too tight, but since he had nothing to compare him with, he couldn't be sure. He pulled out a little and when he eased back in, Naruto tilted his head back, baring his neck. The sight affected him more than it should have. He looked far too vulnerable. Was this why Naruto had been so eager to mark up his neck? The temptation was undeniable. Fortunately for Naruto, he wouldn't be able to bend close enough to touch that pale expanse without shifting their arms or releasing one of his hands. Naruto's legs shifted higher, until his hips were resting on Sasuke's thighs, his upper half the only part firmly against the bed. Sasuke knew Naruto's lower back was going to hurt later, but if the blonde wasn't worried about it, he wouldn't be either. He gave a longer thrust, his eyes narrowing as Naruto tightened around him, and heard him give a rough moan.

"Faster," Naruto cried, digging his fingers into the backs of Sasuke's hands. "Hard and deep, just like I did with you."

"You want me to hurry?" Sasuke drawled, mimicking the words he had been given earlier.

Amusement sparkled in Naruto's eyes, but his smile was darker than that. "I want you to break me into a million pieces, Sasuke."

His honesty unnerved him. He couldn't say he didn't appreciate it, though. He only knew as much about sex as what Naruto had shown him so far. Violence, on the other hand, was an old bedfellow of his. That was why he had enjoyed that hectic finish so much. If Naruto wanted the same from him, he had no trouble obliging him. He pulled back as far as he could without leaving him and thrust all the way in as if delivering a blow. It must have hurt, but Naruto arched into it, his legs clamping tightly so he was grinding them together. Sasuke groaned, a quiet sound compared to the mewling coming out of Naruto's open mouth. He wanted to kiss him so badly. Instead, he squeezed his hands, pressing them harder against the pillows, until those legs loosed enough for him to move as he wished. Every time he pulled back, Naruto took a ragged gasp that was released in a vocal form when shoved back into him. His hips met him with every thrust, his legs catching the rhythm just as quickly. Every so often Naruto tightened his legs, forcing him to pause so he could stare up at him with a dazed and lustfilled look that made Sasuke want to kiss away whatever sense he had left. The pauses, and the frustration at not being able to kiss him, were likely the reasons Sasuke wasn't at all ready when Naruto came. Naruto's legs clenched, holding him tight, his hips bucking as he rode it out. He released Sasuke's hands and caught his hair, pulling him down. Sasuke didn't need to be pulled. He took Naruto's mouth in a kiss every bit as rough and invasive as the one he had been given earlier. Naruto didn't mind, judging by the gentle way he pet his hair, fingers stroking the back of his neck.

He forced himself to stop after a bit, giving Naruto a chance to catch his breath. He was flushed and panting, bits of his blonde hair clinging damply to his forehead and temples. Sasuke brushed the hair away, and then levered himself up. He hadn't pulled out more than an inch when Naruto's legs clamped around him like a vice, pulling him back in and holding him there.

"Stay with me," Naruto mumbled. He opened bleary eyes, looking at him through his lashes. He licked his lips and let out a shaky breath. "Not done yet."

As far as Sasuke could see, Naruto was definitely done. He looked as if he were about to pass out. He was about to say as much when Naruto's hands slipped off the back of his neck and came together in front of his chest. For a moment he thought Naruto was going to transform into that female form again, and he didn't even want to know where that would place him when he was still inside of him. But the hand seals were different. He recognized the kage bunshin technique before Naruto even finished saying the words. Then there was a second Naruto crouched beside them, nude and aroused and smiling in way that made Sasuke want to dispel it with a punch to the face. He knew shadow clones were sturdier than regular clones, but who the hell would even consider summoning one during sex?

"Naruto," Sasuke said slowly, in a warning tone. "What is that thing for?"

"Thing?" the bunshin winced. "You don't have to be mean about it."

Naruto slipped his arms around Sasuke's neck again, pulling him down until there were only a few inches between them. He smiled deviously, "Didn't I tell you we'd be doing both?" He pulled Sasuke closer, forcing him to lean all of his weight on him, and murmured into his ear. "You in me, me in you." He clenched tightly around Sasuke's cock, dragging a sharp breath out of him. "You're all mine, Sasuke."

Naruto was an absolute pervert, Sasuke realized. If he hadn't been buried to the hilt in Naruto, he might have reacted like a scandalized virgin. As it was, his face burned because he knew however outraged his first response might be, he was also curious. The clone leaned over him, warm against his back, fingers sliding over his skin, mouth kissing his shoulders. He knew it was Naruto, a perfect replica all the way down to his chakra. But when a slick hand rubbed over his ass, he had an overwhelming urge to turn around and make sure. He didn't do it. After seeing the faces Naruto had made during sex, completely unaware, he didn't want to put on a similar display of his own. He pressed his face tight against Naruto's neck and held his breath, relaxing as much as he could. It didn't help much when he was in such an awkward, strained position. The clone came all the way into him in one slow but unhesitating thrust. The burn seemed to arc along his back before falling to throb so his cock twitched where it was caught tight inside of Naruto. His ass clutched at the intrusion, feeling much fuller than it had his first time. And to think, Naruto had intentionally made this harder on himself. The masochist. He braced himself as that cock retreated, but it didn't stop, didn't even hesitate before leaving him empty. The shock of cold air had him clenching up just as the clone pushed back into him. The entry was searing and he shouldn't have liked any part of it, but he did. He groaned, his hips straining with the need to pump into Naruto, only those locked legs keeping him from it. He opened his mouth and sucked hard on Naruto's neck, causing him to hiss and tighten around his cock.

"Sasuke," Naruto groaned, tilting his head back further as a thrust from the clone rocked Sasuke's hips harder into him. "Not yet, don't try to move yet. Just wait for me to catch up and we'll go together."

As if it were that easy. The clone was thrusting hard and fast into him now, it burned and hurt so good, but it wasn't enough because the angle was all wrong. He needed to move, to lean back so he could meet the motions without his body straining so much. And Naruto was clenching around him again, so tightly it would only have taken a few shallow thrusts for him to come. He pushed against the arms Naruto had locked around his neck, ignoring the way he squirmed in protest, until he could slip one of his hands between them. He found Naruto's cock still slick from where he had come, yet it felt as hard as his own, throbbing against his palm. There wasn't enough room between them to stroke it properly, so he rubbed and squeezed until Naruto was growling in his ear.

"You weren't supposed to touch me below the waist," Naruto bit out. He hissed and rocked into Sasuke's hand as he was given a particularly rough squeeze. "Bastard! That's cheating..." He loosened his arms enough for Sasuke to lever himself up. Then he caught a hand in his hair and crushed their mouths together.

They were more panting and gasping into each other's mouths than kissing. Naruto's legs finally unlocked and slipped away completely. That was all the incentive Sasuke needed. The clone was grinding into him, and he pushed back against it, pulling a few inches out of Naruto. Movement wasn't as smooth as before. They would have to find something better to use than that cream. For now, his cock was still slick enough that he didn't think he would hurt him. He pushed back in hard, making Naruto choke and bend even more beneath him. When he tried to pull out again, the clone pushed down on his back, holding him in place. He snapped a sharp look over his shoulder, spotting that same devious smile Naruto had flashed him a moment ago. The clone pulled out of him entirely before pushing the head back in, just the head, which he immediately pulled out again. Heat flushed over Sasuke's face as the clone continued to play with him, pushing just enough to open him up again and again.

"Naruto!" he groaned, eyes clenched tightly closed, not knowing which of them he was talking to. This was too obscene. He didn't want to like this.

That cock was shoved all the way in and he cried out, his eyes flashing open again as he caught himself before he could fall on Naruto. Naruto was panting, mouth open and inviting, but he was also devouring him with his eyes. Sasuke was torn between diving for that mouth, which he really wanted to do, or following the hands that were now tugging at his waist, urging him to pull back. In the end, he pulled back. He was too close, and Naruto wasn't close enough. There was plenty of room between them now, so he tightened his hand around Naruto's cock, stroking him quickly. Naruto tossed his head with a low moan, his hips pushing against him. This time there was no interference when he gave a hard thrust into Naruto and immediately pulled back for another. The clone matched his pace, moaning and placing kisses over his back, which probably should have been disturbing but wasn't. It was like being surrounded by Naruto, inside and out, and that was the entire point. Sasuke closed his eyes and let the sensations wash over him, tight and hot around him, burning and full inside. He only let one small bit of his attention shift, just enough to ensure that he continued to stroke Naruto's cock evenly. He didn't want to accidentally squeeze him too hard or forget him entirely. He waited until he could feel Naruto shuddering, clutching around him, his hips pushing in unconscious jerks against him. Then his control snapped like a trip wire, his body convulsed, and he didn't know if he was falling forward or back.

He didn't think he had blacked out, but he felt as if he had. He was lying on Naruto, gasping against his shoulder. His hand was trapped under him, damp enough to tell him Naruto had come, though he didn't remember it. The clone was heavy on his back, making him wonder if Naruto could even breathe, crushed beneath them both. He didn't know if clones were capable of coming, even shadow clones, but he could feel the cock inside him softening, so he supposed it had, in its own way. Naruto had an arm around his back and was brushing the hair off his cheek, humming and petting his face with the back of his hand. The tuneless humming reminded him of a cat, content and purring away. Naruto couldn't be feeling too crushed if he sounded that pleased. Sasuke huffed, shifting his head so his cheek lay on Naruto's chest instead of his shoulder bone. It wasn't much of an improvement. He had no idea how he was going to move, let alone make it to the bathroom. Assuming they could even extricate themselves safely. That cream was undoubtedly drying up with every second that passed and he did not want a repeat of last time. He tried to shift out from between the two of them and found that all of his bones had been reduced to mush again.

"Relax," Naruto murmured, petting his hair again. "When I dispel the clone, there won't be anything left inside you. And I don't mind if it hurts a little when you pull out. So let's just stay like this for a little bit and enjoy the moment, okay?"

"It's your ass," Sasuke muttered tiredly. And he meant that literally.

Naruto laughed.

.-.  
TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Breakfast was unsavory at best. Naruto had left his half-full plate sitting on the counter all night, giving the kitchen an unpleasant reek. For Sasuke, that made the prospect of eating his own leftovers less than appealing. It didn't help that Naruto was sitting across the little table from him, slurping up cold sticky ramen from the container he had spotted in the refrigerator last night. Sasuke managed two bites, enough to acknowledge that the food did in fact taste better cold, before giving up in disgust. He did not have a weak stomach. He had survived off rations, raw meat, even spoiled food, without it affecting his performance on missions. But that had been out of necessity. There was no excuse for the smell in the room or that...stuff...Naruto was eating. The fact that Naruto didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the situation told him this was normal for him, a habit Sasuke would have to break quickly or learn to live with. He had no intention of getting used to this. Unfortunately for him, he suspected teaching Naruto manners would be more difficult than teaching himself to be 'happy' with his new life. It was not an issue he would even attempt to tackle today.

Naruto called after him when he left the table, but didn't follow him. He sat on the couch, leaning forward over his knees, and stared at one of the pictures on the shelf across from him. It featured the hokage, looking young and healthy, and a smiling woman Sasuke could only assume was Naruto's mother. There was no resemblance. Muted sounds carried from the waking village outside and Sasuke closed his eyes on the urge to move to the window. He would get his first look at Konoha when Naruto was ready for him to. He refused to ask when that would be.

His muscles ached in places he didn't even remember straining last night. Some of it was due to the days of travel without exercise or sustenance. He had lost his edge with all of the inactivity. He hadn't realized sex was that strenuous so it had never occurred to him to prepare for it beforehand. But Naruto hadn't done anything beforehand, either, and he didn't seem to be suffering at all. Which meant it was him. Just how much experience did Naruto have to build up that sort of endurance? He could attribute Naruto's quick recovery time to him being a pervert and using a bunshin to do half the work for him. But he hadn't just recovered quickly, he had shaken it off entirely. Only a few minutes after they had finally disentangled themselves, Naruto had been bouncing off to shower as if they hadn't done anything. Meanwhile, Sasuke had barely been able to drag himself out of the bed, and he had been forced to sit down halfway through his shower because his legs refused to hold him up any longer. Seeing how perky and refreshed Naruto looked this morning made him all the more aware of his own aches. All he wanted now was to get out and run. Even a few hours with nothing but a training post to beat on would have greatly improved his mood.

He was leaning his forehead on his folded hands when he heard Naruto come in to hover a few feet away. He didn't bother lifting his head, merely flicking a sidelong look at him. There wasn't a mark on him. Sasuke clearly remembered creating one on his neck, but there was nothing there now. His own neck looked as if someone had strangled him and followed up with a few dozen senbon just to be thorough about it. Naruto took a quick step back, and he realized he had been glaring. He closed his eyes.

"What did I do?" asked Naruto. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Naruto made a weird noise and sat heavily on the couch. "That wasn't a nothing look," he sighed. "I won't know what I did wrong unless you tell me. Or do you want me to guess?"

"It's not you," Sasuke muttered quietly. He was feeling inadequate and he resented it. That wasn't Naruto's fault. He had never handled that emotion well. He dropped his hands and turned a sober look on Naruto. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"You mean today? We should probably go shopping first." Naruto winced. "I'm sorry about the lousy excuse for breakfast. Sakura told me to go shopping, but I forgot about it. There I was lecturing you about not eating on your way here and now I don't even have food for you."

"There was nothing wrong with the food," that he'd been eating, Sasuke finished to himself. "I'm just not hungry."

"Liar."

Sasuke snapped a sharp look at Naruto and was met by a sober frown. What did he know about him? "If you think I would starve myself to death, you're mistaken."

"I know you wouldn't, if only because you were warned not to commit suicide. I wasn't implying that. But you're not thin enough to be the sort who eats as little as you have been. Your appetite should be about as big as mine, especially after that work-out last night. Which means it's either the food or the company." He sighed, scratching at his head. "I was hoping it was the food, but it's not, huh? It's about last night. Is it because I bothered you again, or is it something specific that I did?"

"It's nothing you did," Sasuke scowled. Why did Naruto bother asking if he wasn't going to believe his answer? The sex had been depraved. He was fully convinced of that. But he hadn't objected to it. If he had recovered as easily as Naruto, he might even look forward to the next time. As far as enjoyable challenges went, it was certainly one of the more interesting things he had done in the last few years. He snorted at that. "Where did you get the idea to use the kage bunshin jutsu for sex?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he dropped them with a furious blush. It reminded Sasuke of the way he had reacted when he asked him how often he would need to have sex with him. Naruto had no problem doing it, so he didn't see why he should have difficulty talking about it. He looked him over carefully, trying to determine if that reaction was due to embarrassment or shame. There was nothing shameful about using one's ninjutsu. Perverted, yes, under-handed, certainly, but not shameful. If Sasuke had been as obsessed with sex as other shinobi he had met, he was certain he would have been able to come up with some creative uses of the jutsus in his own arsenal. He wouldn't even need to put them into practice himself. With the sharingan, he could lock his partner in an illusion as strong as the real thing without any of the messy after effects. Of course he was more likely to use that sort of twisted technique to torture an enemy, but it was the same principle.

"Is that why you're upset...?" Naruto asked quietly.

"No," Sasuke snapped. "I'm not upset." He was getting annoyed, though, at Naruto's refusal to let it alone. "If you had done something that upset me, you can be sure I would have told you the moment you did it. I asked about the bunshin out of curiosity. If you're unwilling to talk about it, just say so."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at him. "It's really obvious that you're upset about something, Sasuke. And since you're not telling me about it now, when I'm asking, it's hard to believe you'll tell me the next time I do it. You're the one unwilling to talk about it."

Tenacious. Sasuke had to give him that. If Naruto was going to push like this every time he showed a negative emotion he would have to stop showing them. He had never agreed to share his every thought with him. The arrangement gave Naruto free access to his body, but he wasn't getting any more than that. Only a fellow sharingan holder could get into his head, and even he would have a hard time of it. "I'm not going to argue with you," he told Naruto evenly. "Believe what you like."

"Guh!" Naruto groaned, grabbing his hair in frustration. "This is worse than trying to get straight answers out of Ero-sennin." He grumbled for a while, watching Sasuke with a squinty-eyed scowl. Then his face gradually smoothed into a knowing smirk. "Okay, Sasuke, I'll play your game this time. You want to know about my bunshin? The truth is, the kage bunshin was the first 'forbidden' technique I learned. Of course, I later found out that half the jounin in the village could do it, too, so it wasn't so much 'forbidden' as it was a Konoha favorite. Since you recognized it, you can probably do it, too, so it's not even limited to Konoha or anything. But I went to so much trouble to get my hands on it that it's always been the jutsu I fall back on in a pinch. Puberty was one really big pinch for me. I told you about that."

"You mentioned going to whore houses," said Sasuke. He didn't understand how that was connected. The shadow clone jutsu was definitely not limited to Konoha, but even if it had been, he didn't see what that had to do with anything. "Are whores trained in ninjutsu?"

"What? No!" Naruto laughed, "At least not the ones I met. There is a branch of special jounin, kunoichi mostly, who use whore houses as their cover during missions, but that's different. The women who actually work there are just normal women. I mean, sure, they go through their own training, but they're not shinobi. But some of the houses cater to shinobi, see? So they're used to clients asking to use jutsus on them. Henge, usually." He folded his arms again, looking a little embarrassed. "The first time I went to one it turned out so badly that I went to one of the houses that specialized in shinobi clients with Ero-sennin instead. That's my god-father, Jiraiya," he said as an aside. "He doesn't stay in the village much, but you'll probably meet him eventually. Anyway, I tried using a henge on one of the girls, but she still smelled like a girl, you know? Or maybe you don't know. Just take my word for it that the scent is totally different. I tried it with one of the guys, too, but there was still the chakra difference. You can always tell a ninja from a civilian by the untrained chakra. That was nearly as bad as the smell. And I had that guilt about messing around with people who weren't you on top of it. That's when I thought of using the henge on one of my bunshin. They smell like me, but at least it's a male scent. And they have trained chakra, even if it's different from yours. The important thing was that they're just me, so it was masturbation, not cheating. Once I figured out how to keep them from poofing out right away, it was easy."

Sasuke felt his lips twitch at the proud, yet embarrassed, way Naruto said that. This wasn't what he had expected to hear at all. He had thought Naruto had used the bunshin with the women, some sort of orgy, perhaps. It had never even occurred to him that Naruto might have been having sex with them himself. While one of them was transformed to look like him? It was outrageous. Yet, it did explain how comfortable Naruto was with the idea of them having sex with each other. Naruto had already been having sex with him for some time, apparently. His mouth twitched again, though he still couldn't tell if it was a smile or a grimace. Now he couldn't help but wonder how he had compared to the imitations. "I see."

Naruto must have read his mind because he leaned forward with an expression that was far too serious for the absurd conversation they were having. "It didn't compare to the real thing," he insisted. "At all. Fantasies are nothing like being with another person. I couldn't even guess what it would be like to actually do it with you. Besides," and he drew back with a wince, "I got older but you never did. It was okay when I was just a little taller, but then I hit a major growth spurt and had to stop doing it. Even if it was just a bunshin, I still felt like I was taking advantage because of the age difference. It was bad enough that I couldn't stop fantasizing about it in my head without trying to make it real."

"Age matters?" asked Sasuke. He didn't know what Naruto could have found attractive about him at that age, but he didn't see what Naruto found attractive about him now, either. The size difference would have made it difficult for him to do it to Naruto, but it wouldn't change anything if he were on the receiving end. Maybe that was the problem. Naruto had wanted it both ways.

"It should matter," Naruto huffed. "It didn't matter to me because it was you, the only you I knew. It's such a relief to see you now. I felt like an old pervert, fantasizing about a little kid."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "I was not a little kid. I may have been only been twelve, but I had already done more A rank missions than the pathetic excuse for a jounin the Sand village assigned as my teacher."

"You think I was insulting you? I know you were a skilled shinobi even back then, you wouldn't have survived otherwise. And it was obvious you'd had a lot more field experience than I had, which is half the reason I went on so many missions after our run-in. If one of us thought like a kid back then, it was totally me. But you still looked like a kid. You know?" Naruto blushed, looking away and shifting in his seat. "When I imagined you naked, you were about the same size I was back then. That's the image of you I had when I hit puberty and, yeah, you're not supposed to lust after something like that when you're my age. Only by the time I realized that, it was already too late. I'd gotten used to you looking that way. When I tried to imagine what you might look like now, it was too weird, it wasn't you, because that was the only you I could see."

Sasuke still didn't see what the problem was. He might have changed physically since then, but he certainly hadn't changed very much mentally. If Naruto wanted to feel guilty about something, he should should have felt guilty for imagining him naked in the first place. Or for actively fantasizing about him at all. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel about that. It was flattering, in a very bizarre way. Naruto hadn't even been content to fantasize, he had actually projected those fantasies onto his own clones and tried to make them a reality. Sasuke had enough trouble wrapping his mind around attraction and lust. He couldn't guess how it would feel to be overwhelmed with both to the point where he had to seek an outlet for them. Naruto was hung up on the age issue. For Sasuke, it was the desire itself. If Naruto didn't feel guilty or ashamed for having lusted after him in the first place, then he didn't see why his age at the time should matter at all.

"Would you feel guilty for fantasizing about me as I am now?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto gaped. "No way! You're gorgeous! I love your hair. Your face is perfect and your body is-"

Grimacing, Sasuke cut him off. "Then it's better than the way I looked back then?"

"No... You were gorgeous back then, too. That's the problem, see? I should be able to say, 'Yeah, you made a cute kid, but now you're hot.' I can't because as far as I'm concerned you were hot when I first saw you and you still are. Even if you hadn't grown at all since then, I'd still think you were perfect. I do like your hair better now, though." He shrugged, smiling shamelessly. "It's a little longer in front and looks great whether it's falling down around your face or spilling back over the pillow. I never had a hair kink before, but I'm definitely getting one now."

Sasuke snorted, amused despite himself. If Naruto liked long hair, then it was a pity he had met him in that forest instead of Itachi. Then he could have fulfilled his sharingan kink and his hair kink. And gotten a slow painful death to go with them. Somehow he doubted Naruto was that much of a masochist. "I won't grow my hair out for you," he warned him. Itachi had taken after their father, while he had taken after their mother. Yet now that they were closer in height they looked similar enough that the easiest way to tell them apart from a distance was their hair styles. "This is as long as it gets."

"That's fine!" Naruto said quickly. "I like the way it feathers in the back. I wouldn't ask you to change your appearance for me, anyway. By this point, I'm pretty sure I'll like the way you look no matter what. If you suddenly decided to shave your head bald, I might freak out a little bit, but then I'd probably develop a bald head kink or something. Like, I've never had a thing for fat people, but a chubby Sasuke? I'd definitely be down with that. As long as it's you, it's fine by me!"

"And yet you were perfectly willing to change your gender to suit me," Sasuke drawled. Naruto was far too eager to accommodate him without expecting anything in return. "I wouldn't attempt to create a female version of myself, but I am perfectly capable of using a henge to alter my appearance. I've done it often enough on missions. All you have to do is ask."

"I won't. I don't want you to change. Really!"

Sasuke sniffed and let his gaze drift across the room to the pictures again. It seemed wrong that there was no blonde baby being held by one of the parents. The photos of his parents in his own home had all included Itachi, him, or both. The second picture on the shelf featured a large group of children, pre-genin by the looks of them. Except Naruto was right in the middle of them and he should have been at least a chunin by that age. He eyed the photo closely for a moment, noting exactly which of the children Naruto's attention was on the most, and performed a quick henge. Naruto wasn't quite as surprised as he had been by Naruto's transformation last night, but it was close. The blonde yelped and leapt off the couch, landing halfway across the room. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You had a crush on her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but!" Naruto remained in a half crouch, but he cringed back a little, his face a mottled red. "I don't anymore! Even if I wanted you to use a henge, I definitely wouldn't want you to turn yourself into someone else. The whole point is to have you!" He sent a wild look at the curtained window, as if they could possibly be seen from outside. "Undo that, okay? Sakura would kill me if she thought for a second that I'd conned you into it. She hasn't looked like that in years. And besides, the voice is all wrong. Where did you get that?"

"It's mine. I used my apparent age to my advantage on my first missions. My voice at that age was gender neutral enough that I continued to use it when posing as a child or a young woman. It's convenient. Even those who should have been watching for a henge never saw through it." He performed a second henge, taking very close note of the way Naruto reacted. He had only used this particular disguise to get within striking distance of those who targeted children or had a soft spot for them. Those hiring him had always been impressed by the way he could mute and disorder his chakra to pass as a civilian child. He never told them that he was merely mimicking the way his chakra had actually been at that age. He had only been taught to control his chakra after proving he was able to carry out a mission without it. Naruto was wide-eyed and pale. Sasuke made it a point to blink his own eyes rather than narrowing them and ruining the illusion of innocence. After going on about how wrong it was to like him at twelve, Naruto couldn't possibly be attracted to him at this age. "What is it?"

Naruto shook his head sharply, frowning unhappily at him. "You really looked like that. I can't believe they made you do missions when you looked like that. Just looking at you makes me want to scoop you up and hide you away from the world. What were your parents thinking?"

"That I could be useful," Sasuke said sharply. He should have known Naruto was the sort with a soft spot for seemingly helpless children. Assassinating him would have been far too easy. He dispelled the henge. "You were strong enough to enter Anbu when we met. You couldn't have become a shinobi any later than I did. Did you question your father for allowing you to prove yourself? I thanked mine."

With a sigh of relief, Naruto came back to the couch. "I don't like that henge at all," he said, as if he hadn't already made that clear. "I'm glad you used it, though. It helps me understand more about you. I didn't start taking solo missions until after we met." He nodded solemnly when Sasuke's eyes widened. "I went through the usual D and C rank missions just like everyone else here has to as a genin, but unlike them I couldn't be on a real three man team because I couldn't leave the village. Everyone knows who I am. They've been trying to kill me since I was a baby. I had just taken the chunin exam a few months before we met. I had to wait until I was strong enough to defend whatever team they put me on as well as myself. I couldn't risk anyone else being used as a hostage to get at me. Baachan - Tsunade, the one you met - she worked with Sakura for a year before we entered so she'd be able to take care of herself and heal our third member if things went wrong, but even then, we barely made it out alive. It turned out that our third member was another assassin. Can you imagine that? We were so worried about not endangering him and then he turned out to be working for Sound the whole time. That's when I decided to stop going through the usual channels. I took the Jounin exam a month after passing the Chunin exam, and then I went straight into Anbu. At least there I'd have a mask hiding my identity. But then we ran into you..."

Naruto leaned back, his eyes moving restlessly around the room. "I've done a lot of missions since then, and seen a lot of things I'd rather not have seen. Konoha turns away more requests than it accepts. I knew someone had to be taking them, mercenaries. I've run across some of those, usually missing nin who are in everyone's bingo books. But somehow I never connected you to that. I thought you were Sound. Then, when we identified some of the bodies, I thought you were like them, just someone Sound had found somewhere, unaffiliated with anyone in particular. Even after Gaara told me you were an Uchiha, it never occurred to me what that really meant. You're a clan of mercenaries." He shot a quick look at Sasuke, as if he might be insulted by the truth. "It's nothing like living in a ninja village, is it?"

"I wouldn't know," said Sasuke. "We settled near Sand village, but I had little contact with those living there until I came back with the sharingan and was assigned one of their shinobi as my teacher. I do know that they refused to accept me the first time the clan pushed me as the best available for one of their requests. They took one look at me and said I was too young." His eyes narrowed, flicking away. "They demanded that a sharingan holder go instead. He died. I wouldn't have." They'd had so few reproduction aged sharingan holders left even then. In the end, Itachi had been forced to finish the mission and recover the body. If Sand had accepted the clan's first choice he could have gotten in, killed the target, and gotten away without performing a single jutsu. He had been trained to do exactly that. "I was almost ten before they finally acknowledged me as a genin. Even then, they refused to accept me for anything higher than C rank missions. The clan wasn't willing to waste me on that, so I never did any missions for Sand at all."

Naruto's eyes darted toward the bookshelf, a guilty look taking over his face. Sasuke didn't bother asking. He crossed the room and lifted the face-down photo, activating his sharingan at the same time. He should have guessed. That explained how Naruto had been able to teleport him directly into the apartment. The room had been set to his chakra signature all along. He brushed a finger over the back of the frame, wondering what sort of identifier was hidden in there. A single hair would do. He eyed the photo, noting the anger captured in his own nine year-old face. "This is the only photograph I've ever stood for since becoming a shinobi," he commented. "They insisted on testing me according to their own genin level. It was demeaning." Even admitting that, he was surprised how much of his anger had shown in his eyes. The entire procedure had been one insult after another, but he had thought he was hiding his anger perfectly. A wry smile pulled at his lips. Apparently he hadn't been as good at hiding his emotions back then as he had thought he was. He replaced the photo face-down. A moment later, Naruto was next to him, placing it face up.

"I shouldn't have tried to hide it," Naruto said quietly. "Sorry. Gaara gave it to me when he told me who you were. He said it was the only photo Sand had of you, and he couldn't risk upsetting the clan by trying to take a new one. Our Anbu took samples of your hair after they finished transporting you. I got one so I could bring you straight here. I didn't want anyone to see you walking through the village in those cuffs, not if I could help it." He stared at the photo in much the same way he'd stared at Sasuke's henge. "I'm surprised you wore a Sand forehead protector if you never did missions for them..."

"I only wore it for the photo. I never wore it again until I came back, and then only because my jounin teacher insisted on it." His eyes narrowed as he stared at the photo of himself. His teacher had liked for the clan to see him wearing it, as if to remind them that they hadn't been willing or able to train him themselves.

"I can't give it back to you-"

"I wouldn't wear it if you did," Sasuke cut him off. "I never considered myself a Sand shinobi to begin with."

"I can't give it back because I want you to wear one of ours," Naruto finished. "I know it's not fair, but..."

"My father gave me to Konoha. My life belongs to the Hokage to do with as he likes. If he wants me to wear the Leaf symbol, then I'll wear it."

"I'm starting to hate that blank face of yours," Naruto sighed. He pulled him into a hug, not minding when he made no move to reciprocate. "Your life does not belong to my father, no more than you belong to Konoha. But, speaking as the future Hokage, if you ever want to belong we'd love to have you. Did you know that the Uchiha clan helped found this village, Sasuke? For you, coming here is a prolonged death sentence. For Konoha, it's like having a long lost child come home. I want you to wear Konoha's symbol because you'll be fighting at my side, and we'll be fighting for this village. My father wants you to wear it so no one who sees you will mistake you for anything but a shinobi. But we both want you to wear the Uchiha symbol, too, because that's who you are. We didn't take you away from your clan. We welcomed a part of that clan back home."

Sasuke's gaze drifted over Naruto's shoulder to the young blonde man in the photograph near him. "Why did the clan leave Konoha? Do you know the reason?"

"I know why," Naruto admitted. He released him and stepped back, but his head remained bowed. "I can't talk about it. I'm sorry. It's one of those things that-"

"I understand. You don't have to tell me anything."

"Sasuke-"

"It's fine," Sasuke said sharply. "I've never heard anyone in the clan speak of it, so why should Konoha?"

"It had to do with Kyuubi!" Naruto blurted. "It's not restricted information or anything like that, it's just... It hurts to talk about because it's personal. I don't want to keep you in the dark, but it's one of those things that I don't-" He took a sharp breath, his eyes closing as he turned away. "I can't talk about it. I'll find someone willing to talk to you about it, I promise. Someone who can answer any questions you have. I just can't do it myself."

"I meant what I said," Sasuke said quietly. "You don't have to tell me anything. About anything. Whether you keep quiet for personal reasons or because you were ordered to do so, it makes no difference to me. I'm accustomed to being kept in the dark."

"You've been in the dark your entire life, from the sound of things. Sorry," Naruto winced, when he caught his expression. "I just hate contributing to that. I'm still coming to grips with the way you were raised. One of my teachers grew up during wartime and he became a chunin at six. He never had a childhood because his skills were needed by the village. You probably have more in common with him than you do with me. My father had me trained as if we were still at war, but I was given plenty of time to interact with kids my own age. The village didn't need to use me for the missions I was qualified to do because there were always enough older shinobi to handle them. Konoha gets its share of gifted kids, but we try not to advance them too quickly. They live longer that way."

"The Uchiha clan isn't large enough to have that sort of leeway."

"I know that," Naruto frowned. "I still think their priorities are backwards. If you risk the most promising children, then who's going to build the future?"

"That's where you have it wrong," Sasuke explained. "I wasn't promising as a child. There was never any reason to believe I would develop the sharingan. It took me months to learn the simplest katon jutsu, which even an average Uchiha my age should have learned within a week. Those likely to gain the sharingan have excellent chakra control. I didn't. Even when Sand tested me at genin rank, my chakra control was still wasteful. More importantly, I'm a second child. By the time I was old enough to begin training, Itachi already had the sharingan. There was never a question as to which of us the bloodline favored. No one could have foreseen that we would both develop the sharingan. That simply doesn't happen anymore."

"As far as you know. If they make a habit of considering the second child expendable, then maybe some of them would have developed it if they had lived long enough to."

"Or those with the potential would never be pushed into developing it at all," Sasuke countered. "You're saying they should be coddled on the off chance they might develop the sharingan later in life. But I wouldn't have gotten mine at all if I hadn't been set against your squad, with death as the only likely outcome. The sharingan is a bloodlimit awakened during battle. Without a life or death fight, even Itachi might not have developed it. And keep in mind that even without the sharingan, I never failed a mission. By completing them myself, I spared the important members of my clan from risking themselves. I was superfluous, expendable, but never useless. There are no useless Uchiha."

"I hate your clan for teaching you that," Naruto said bleakly. "Sorry. We could argue about it for years and I still wouldn't agree with any of that. I guess my dad's right. We really do see things differently."

"Are there no bloodlimit clans in Konoha, then? I thought I saw a member of one on my way here." He wasn't surprised when Naruto flinched. "Should I assume his clan is more aligned with Konoha's morals than mine is?"

Naruto let out a disgusted breath, "No. If anything, the Hyuuga clan is worse. I just hate the clan mindset itself, especially the extreme ones. The clan heads have nearly as much say in the way the village is run as the Hokage does, with a lot more autonomy. Some of the clans have traditions that run counter to everything Konoha stands for. One of my biggest goals when I become Hokage is to find a way to change those traditions without driving the clans themselves away from the village."

"Good luck with that."

"Yeah," Naruto snorted. "I know."

A short time later, Sasuke found himself back in the bedroom, rifling through Naruto's very limited wardrobe. As he had discovered when he was washing his own clothing out in the bathtub, laundry wasn't something Naruto paid much attention to. Half of his clothes were dirty and a good portion of the clean ones were torn beyond repair. The t-shirt and shorts Naruto had lent him last night were fine to sleep in, but he didn't look forward to having to walk through the village in them. He had healed the cuts on his hands, both from his own teeth and Naruto's fingernails. The bandages he had wrapped around his neck and right knee were much more conspicuous. Naruto had taken one look at them, blushed an orangish red, and retreated into the hall closet. Sasuke took that to mean Naruto found the bandages more suspicious than the bruises they covered. If there was anyone in the village who didn't know he was sharing Naruto's bed, he wasn't going to be the one to inform them. An outfit suitable for a shinobi would keep anyone from wondering about the bandages at all. The problem was that Naruto didn't seem to own anything suitable for a shinobi.

"Those are my lounge clothes," Naruto said breathlessly, as he hurried into the room with a box in his arms. "I only wear uniforms when I'm leaving the village, on missions where I have to look the part. Our uniforms are great, don't get me wrong, but it's so much more comfortable without them. Or maybe I only think so because I've done so many missions dressed as lightly as a genin. Anyway, here." He pushed the box at Sasuke and stepped back to hover worriedly when he finally took it. "It's my chunin uniform, so the pants and vest will probably be small on you. If you bandage the ankles on the outside of the pants, I doubt anyone would know they're short, though. And you don't have to wear the vest, anyway. The shirt has a high collar and I only wore the uniform a few times, so it's just like new. And it's just for today, so-"

"This will do fine," Sasuke said, cutting into the worried babble. "My clothes will dry quickly, so I can change into them later if necessary."

Naruto shuffled in place, his eyes falling to the floor. "I'm really sorry I marked you up so badly. I've never given anyone a hickey before. I didn't realize they'd be so...noticeable."

Sasuke shook out the dark shirt. It was musty from being stored away, but perfectly serviceable. He changed into it before commenting. "There are mouth-shaped bruises overlapping each other all over my neck. Of course they're noticeable. Yet there isn't a trace of the one I left on your neck." He shot a resentful look at the spot just as Naruto's hands rose to feel at his own neck.

"You marked me?" Naruto asked. His voice rose in an oddly high pitch, and his eyes were wide and excited. "On which side?"

"The left. But there isn't a trace of it now."

Naruto let out a disgusted sound, actually stomping one of his feet. "I can't believe you marked me and I didn't even get a chance to show it off! That's not fair...!"

"Show it off?" Sasuke repeated, his upper lip rising slightly. "It isn't a badge of honor."

"Coming from you, yes it is. Absolutely. But I can see how you wouldn't view it that way." Naruto huffed moodily and dropped onto the edge of the bed. "I'm not saying I want to flaunt our sex life around or anything. It's just that leaving a kissmark on someone is like staking your claim on them. I'd be proud as hell to wear your claim for everyone to see. Not that I'd actually do it if it bothered you, but I'd like to at least have the option. I never even got to see it in the mirror. Was it dark?"

Sasuke had to think carefully to recall the last time he had actually seen the mark. He was sure it had been there, pink darkening to red, before they had gone to bed again. "It wasn't very dark. When you came back from your shower it was still red, but it was gone this morning. I thought you healed it."

"I never even realized it was there," Naruto sighed. "That's Kyuubi. His chakra seeps a little when I'm injured, so I heal faster than normal people. Believe me, I wouldn't have healed it if I had a choice about it. It's an automatic thing. I never really learned the healing jutsus, otherwise I would have taken care of that bruise on your cheek last night."

He would have healed the light bruising on his face but not the dark ones on his neck? Sasuke considered asking the question, but decided against it. He was more interested in the demon's chakra having a healing effect. "Does that chakra seepage help with general physical strain, or just injuries?"

"It's only really noticeable with injuries. I have a lot of chakra on my own, so I don't need any of his to recover from training or a long mission. My stamina and chakra reserves are my strong point," Naruto said proudly. "His chakra is set up to seep a little when necessary, to augment my own. But I don't rely on him any more than I absolutely have to."

Which meant there was a reason Naruto had recovered from their 'exertions' so easily. Some of Sasuke's resentment eased with that knowledge, though he now wondered if there was any point training with Naruto at all. His chakra reserves were hardly noteworthy and stamina was definitely not one of his strong points. That didn't even take into account how much the demon's chakra could enhance Naruto's natural abilities. Yet there had to be a drawback or else Naruto wouldn't hesitate to draw on the demon any time he liked. He racked his brain for anything he might have heard about Gaara's demon and came up empty.

Sasuke finished dressing in the shirt and pants. He bound his ankles and then eyed the vest, still lying in the box. "Do all chunin wear this uniform here? Even if it were the right size, that vest would still be cumbersome."

"I'm told they get used to it," Naruto said, with a weak grin. "Chunin and Jounin both wear the same basic uniform. The biggest difference is the vest, but some people just stick with the one they like best or forgo both. Konoha isn't very strict about uniforms unless there are clan heads or dignitaries to appease. Personally, my favorite uniform was the Anbu uniform. My own clothes borrow from that a little. Pockets are great and all, but I don't use a lot of tools as a rule, so I lean more for mobility than added protection."

Sasuke's eyes flicked toward the first clothing he had found in Naruto's closet, the ones that looked worn most often. "And the orange?"

"Only in Konoha," Naruto explained. "I picked that up as a kid. It's hard to ignore someone in orange even if you try to. I kept the color later because, being a target anyway, I figured I might as well make myself easier to see. It keeps other people from getting caught up in my problems. But don't worry, I promise not to be the only spot of orange in the forest when we go on missions."

"I should hope not."

Naruto snorted, a wry grin pulling at his mouth. "Blue and white doesn't exactly blend into the canopy, you know."

"Those were my lounge clothes," Sasuke said, borrowing Naruto's term. "They ended up suiting that mission just fine because I wanted to be seen." He knew why Naruto commented on it, though. The other boys on that mission had all worn the standard black and grays one would expect, most of which had been supplied by Sound as they owned no uniforms of their own. He hadn't been given time to do more than arm himself before setting out on that mission. He considered himself lucky not to have been wearing the Uchiha symbol on his back. But had he been given a choice, he probably would have dressed in colors even more striking than what he had gone with. His goal had been to catch and hold their attention, after all, not to disappear. "Unless the client provided a uniform, I usually wore black on missions. That one was an exception."

"We would never have tracked you so far if it weren't for those white shorts. Your ass looked great in those, by the way." Naruto winced when Sasuke shot him a disgruntled look. "Sorry. That just slipped out. I swear, my mind isn't always in the gutter. It's just that I had dreams about those shorts, how they were the only thing visible in the dark, and you did just get changed right in front of me so I couldn't help but notice how much those boxers I lent you remind me of those shorts, and yeah, I'll shut up now." Naruto pressed his lips tightly together as a light blush broke out on his cheeks.

Sasuke stared at him until that blush darkened and Naruto dropped his eyes. Was this another kink? "Was I always wearing the same outfit when you used a henge on your bunshin?"

Naruto winced, his hands fussing with the blanket. "You think I'm a complete pervert, don't you. I should never have told you about that. I want to be completely honest with you about as much as possible, but...I should have kept that to myself. Normal people don't do things like that."

"Have you ever used a kunai during sex?"

"What?" Naruto's head snapped up, a wary expression taking over his face. "You mean like for bondage...?"

"No, I mean for penetration." Sasuke watched the color drain from his face.

"Is that what you think? That I'm the sort of person who-"

"No, I don't think that. But I've met shinobi who boasted of having done that and worse," Sasuke explained. "From what you told me, your use of clones was creative masturbation at best. I don't know what shinobi here consider normal during sex, but I doubt you have anything to worry about. Compared to the ones in Sound, you might not even count as a pervert."

Naruto shook his head, that sick look remaining on his face. "Are you sure they were talking about sex and not torture...?"

"I don't know that they differentiate between the two," Sasuke admitted. "I usually went out of hearing range when they began talking in detail about their exploits. I hadn't been trained in either subject and didn't care to pick up misinformation."

"Thanks," Naruto muttered. "Now I have another reason to hate that village. That explains it, though."

"Explains what?"

"Why you assumed sex with me would be torture and that all shinobi go through some sort of sexual torture training. They don't," Naruto said sharply. "Not here. There are shinobi who use sex during missions, and they do get trained for that in particular. But they choose to go into that specialty. As for torture, only those in the interrogation fields take any detailed training courses for it. Missions are assigned carefully so that the shinobi is qualified to handle the risks involved, whether that involves using his or her body, or withstanding torture if captured. Most shinobi do learn all about sex by the time they become jounin, but that's because their life expectancy is shorter. I wouldn't say sex is casual, but it's certainly a popular way to relieve stress. They learn by experimenting with each other. Because they want to, not because they have to."

"Then you haven't received any sort of sexual training?"

"None. Everything I know, I learned from reading, listening, and trying things out myself."

With whores and bunshin. That made Sasuke wonder how many other shinobi did similar things when they didn't have convenient partners available. Although the stories he had heard in Sound were the worst, he had overheard sexual exploit huddles all over the place. It was always the same, shinobi bunched together, sometimes with alcohol, chortling and slapping backs as they talked about how many and how long and with what. More than once the people talking had been younger than him, so he had assumed sex was something that had been left out of his own training. Were all shinobi perverts, then? For all he knew, what he considered perverted could be perfectly normal in the eyes of others.

He lifted his right hand and eyed it speculatively. "Is it strange that I didn't like touching that breast of yours last night?" Men were always talking about breasts, yet he had found the squishy texture repulsive. Naruto didn't answer right away. He looked up to find him biting his lip. "You said it never fails to get a positive reaction."

"It never has before," Naruto said reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean much. You might prefer small breasts. Or maybe it was the fact that you know I'm actually male that turned you off. It could be any number of things. This is hardly a normal situation, you know? Don't worry about it."

Sasuke accepted that with a nod. He would never marry, so it didn't matter that he might never have enjoyed touching his wife's breasts. "I'm glad you told me about your bunshin," he offered in return. "I do consider you an unmitigated pervert, but since I don't know what 'normal' is, that doesn't mean much. Don't worry about it."

Naruto snorted. "Thanks. I tell you what, if you ever do want a 'sex training' course, I'll use my perverted imagination to devise one for you. I could even teach you how to practice on your own bunshin, if you like."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Sasuke drawled in amusement. "Just having sex with you will probably teach me more than any course could."

This time Naruto actually laughed. "I still have things to learn myself, but I know the important parts. Sex is supposed to be fun and pleasurable. As long as you've got that down, anything else is just a bonus." He hopped off the bed and grabbed Sasuke's arm, tugging him toward the door. "Now let's get out of here before this unmitigated pervert gets it in his head to teach you something. I've got bondage and white shorts on the brain and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be up for the combo right now."

"Definitely not." Even as he said it, Sasuke could feel his curiosity stirring. Luckily he had enough aches to remind him of why he wanted to get out of this apartment and stretch his legs. He wanted to work out his own kinks, not give in to another of Naruto's.

.-.  
TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Konoha was bustling yet peaceful. The first thing that struck Sasuke was how comfortable Naruto seemed to be with his surroundings. He wasn't nervous around the villagers populating the streets, moving calmly among them as if he belonged there. He didn't hesitate to look at anyone, but didn't watch out for anyone, either. The villagers, civilians and shinobi mixing as if it were normal, didn't pay any more attention to Naruto than he did to them. They didn't grow quiet at the sight of him, but they didn't ignore him, either. Sasuke followed close in Naruto's tracks, his expression schooled enough so that even those who noticed him didn't look twice. This was not what he had expected, and he had to wonder if news traveled slower here than it did in other hidden villages. Or maybe they were simply more casual. Naruto had said there were more civilians here than in other villages. Still, even if these people didn't know about him yet, they had to know about Naruto. He wondered if it was Naruto's personality that made them accept him, or his father's influence as the Hokage of the village.

He eyed Naruto speculatively as the boy shopped, shrugging and offering noncommittal answers to his questions about the things he picked out. He didn't care what Naruto stocked his refrigerator with, or whether he stocked it at all. That was a menial concern in comparison to all of the pressing questions he couldn't ask. He wanted to know just how strong Naruto really was, how strong Konoha really was. He remembered the way his jounin instructor had referred to this village, as if everyone knew of it and either feared or respected it. He wanted to know why. He wanted to know how Naruto could laugh with the vendor across from him when Gaara had been feared and ostracized by everyone in his village. Was his demon better contained, or was this village simply that different from Sand? He wanted to know who had been behind the assassination attempts Naruto had mentioned because Naruto had been jostled and brushed by so many people since leaving the apartment that he could have been killed a dozen times over. Was he supposed to protect him or were they being monitored by Anbu he wasn't good enough to detect? Most of all, he wanted to know when he would be trusted enough to arm himself. He had never gone near a hidden village unarmed, let alone walked through the heart of one like this. He could barely tolerate being surrounded by strangers, however complacent they might seem, when he felt completely naked. Having access to his chakra wasn't enough. If his packs hadn't been returned to the clan, then he wanted them back. Surely they were finished looking through them by now.

By the time they returned to Naruto's apartment with the groceries, Naruto had stopped trying to con a response from him. Sasuke was comfortable with the silence and made no attempt to break it as he helped him put things away. When Naruto started gathering up the empty bags, he went to the bathroom to check on his clothing. The shirt was dry enough to wear, but he hesitated to put it on. The Uchiha symbol on the back was far too large. Whatever good he might do the clan in his current position, he wasn't acting on behalf of the clan. If death wasn't an option, they would have preferred him in prison, out of sight and mind. By accepting Naruto's proposal, he had shamed them. Wearing their symbol here would simply advertise that to everyone who saw him. Yet he couldn't bring himself to care as much as he should have. He wondered if Itachi would continue wearing the clan symbol now that he was officially exiled. Probably not. That gave him at least one legitimate reason of his own to continue to wear it. He performed a henge on the shirt so the fan was a small note on the back, easily identifiable but not so glaringly proud.

Naruto was standing in the hall when he left the room. He ignored the reproachful look Naruto shot him, simply giving him back the chunin shirt he had borrowed. He made his way back to the kitchen, where he quickly finished the strange food he had picked at earlier. He also scraped off Naruto's plate and washed both dishes. The annoyance he had felt earlier was long gone. Naruto had packed his refrigerator with food he had no idea how to prepare in an attempt to make him happy. Cleaning up after him seemed a small concession.

"If I ask you what's wrong, are you going to be stubborn again?" Naruto asked, having come in to hover in the kitchen doorway.

Sasuke stared at the plates he had just put away in the cabinet. He hadn't been making an effort to annoy Naruto, so the petulance in his voice shouldn't have satisfied him so much. It did, though. He frowned, turning to actually look at him. Naruto was visibly upset, his arms folded over his chest defensively. He didn't want to get into the habit of scoring small victories off him, however easy Naruto made it for him to do so. Causing unnecessary friction wouldn't make this any better for him. He crossed the room until he stood directly in front of Naruto. "What do you want from me?" He had intended his tone to be mildly curious, but Naruto must have taken it as mocking because he scowled.

"I just want you to talk to me," Naruto muttered.

"About what?" This time he made sure his voice was absolutely monotone, yet Naruto's reaction was the same. He took a slow breath to keep from grinding his teeth in frustration the way Naruto was now doing. If Naruto was that determined to be annoyed with him, then there was nothing he could do about it.

"About what's bothering you," scowled Naruto. "And don't say nothing because you don't hide things as well as you think you do if you actually expect me to buy that."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. If anyone needed practice in schooling his expressions, it was the bristling blonde standing before him. "I consider stating the obvious a waste of time," he admitted. "But since you insist, I'll say it. What's bothering me is that I have lost everything. I did nothing to cause it and can do nothing to change it. Knowing that is not pleasant and learning to accept it is not easy. I will come to grips with this eventually, but until then I have to ask that you be patient with me and not assume that every silence is because you did something wrong. My every thought does not concern you. And even when I am annoyed with you, as I am right now, it's my choice whether or not I express that. Have I made myself clear enough, or would you like to talk about this some more?"

Naruto stared at him for a long moment, his eyes widening slowly. Then his mouth dropped open. "You're an asshole..."

"You're not the first to say so," Sasuke sniffed. "Maybe I should have mentioned that when you asked me to tell you about myself."

"That would have helped," Naruto drawled sarcastically. His mouth pulled into something between a grin and a grimace, and then he let out an exasperated laugh. "I already guessed though. I did," he insisted, when Sasuke's eyebrow rose again. "When I said you had a sharp tongue, that was my nice way of saying you were being a jerk. But there was this morning, too. You're not the sort of asshole who gets in your face and yells, but you're definitely an asshole." He smirked, putting his hands on his hips as if he were proud to have figured it out. "I can work with that. Tell me, Sasuke, what do you usually do when you're mad at someone?"

"Leave if I can, or ignore them until they go away." Neither of which was an option in this situation. He couldn't figure Naruto out at all. When he made an effort to be civil and not antagonize him, he got angry. And when he was biting and sarcastic, Naruto reacted happily. Sasuke couldn't stop himself from grinding his teeth this time.

"That's what I thought," Naruto said, nodding quickly. "That's not going to work with me. Neither of us is going anywhere."

"You don't have to remind me," Sasuke bit out. "Are you trying to make this more difficult?"

"Of course not. I'm just trying to figure out what I should do with you when you're angry. You need to vent." Naruto made a face and scratched at his hair. "I can't decide if I want you to vent on me or not. I mean, you had a point about us sparring. If I show you up too much, that will just put you in an even worse mood. And honestly I'd rather see what level you're at before I do any serious sparring with you because the last thing I want is to put you in the hospital. Knowing my luck, Tsunade would take her sweet time healing you and I wouldn't see you for weeks. Well, no, I'd still probably sneak in to see you, but you wouldn't be happy to see me and you wouldn't be in much shape to do anything even if you were, so..." His eyes dropped to stare at Sasuke's clenched fists for a long moment. Then he looked up with a wide smirk. "You're really pissed at me now, aren't you?"

Why did he look so smug about that? Sasuke pressed his lips tightly together to keep from baring his teeth, or saying any of the things that wanted to hiss their way out of his throat. He wasn't used to being baited, certainly not openly like this. Was he being tested to see if he would follow the Hokage's command to refrain from attacking, even when provoked? Or was this merely Naruto's way of putting him in his place? He stared at Naruto's taunting expression until his control slipped enough for his upper lip to curl. "I thought you didn't want me to hate you."

"I don't," Naruto said immediately, his smirk turning into a sly grin that narrowed his eyes. "But you're angry. Angry with me, angry with the world. I bet if you didn't bottle it up so much, you wouldn't have as many asshole moments when it slips out. I don't want you to hate me, but I do want you to be open with me. When you're mad enough to hit me, go ahead and try. If I'm not good enough to dodge, then I deserve it. I might hit you back if I'm just as mad, but I have an insane soft spot for you so I'll pull my punches whether I like it or not. In fact, what I just said about showing you up was a bluff. You're more likely to get mad at me for not fighting you seriously. That's something I'll have to work on. Until then, anytime you're feeling the need to vent, just say so."

"I do not need to vent," Sasuke said scathingly, his eyes black slits in his face. "I'm a shinobi. I have better control than that."

Naruto snorted and deliberately dropped his eyes. "Right. Is that why you're dripping blood on my kitchen floor? Maybe you should have bandaged both hands if you're in the habit of digging holes in them with your fingernails."

Sasuke uncurled his fists and turned away sharply, as much to hide his surprise as to avoid Naruto's gaze. He gnashed his teeth as he hurried to the sink to rinse off the crescent shaped wounds in his left palm. He hadn't even felt it. Did he really have that little control? Maybe he did need to vent, but he would be damned if he were going to be taunted into venting on the one person he didn't dare lash out at. Either Naruto didn't understand the terms the Hokage had set for him, or he simply didn't care. By the time Sasuke turned back, he was as calm and empty as could be. He saw disappointment flash over Naruto's face before it pulled into a grimace. He ignored him until he had wiped the specks of blood off the floor. Then he stood and regarded him evenly.

"Don't do this again," Sasuke warned. "We've been together for one day, and so far I have done everything I agreed to do. If my company isn't the sort 'companionship' you had in mind, that's too bad. You should have been more specific. Don't try to force my hand. I admit, you're good at it, but all that will accomplish is to have me sent right back to that cell. So long as the truce between my clan and Konoha holds, I will not attack anyone in this village for any reason save self defense, and that includes you. If you want to incite me into lashing out at you, do so on a training ground, not here."

Naruto sighed, his shoulders slumping in annoyed defeat. "You're just using that no attacking people thing as an excuse to stay bottled up. You gave me a good whack upside the head last night - which I deserved for not thinking," he admitted quickly. "You didn't have any problem lashing out at me then."

Sasuke felt his stomach twist at the reminder. Did that count as an attack? He hadn't intended to do it, and it certainly wasn't a serious blow, but...

"No," Naruto groaned, "you're not going to regret that, too, now. Are you?" He caught him up in a sudden hug, dropping his chin onto his shoulder. "Sasuke, you're so messed up..."

"What?" Sasuke snapped, bristling at the unexpected contact. "What are you talking about?"

"You. You're all messed up," Naruto sighed, squeezing him tighter. "I'm sorry. I thought all you needed was to let loose a little, but it's so much worse than that. Don't worry, I won't push you like that again. I'm not in a hurry. You be just as frigid as you need to be. I can wait until you're ready to come out of your shell on your own."

There was nothing mocking about Naruto's tone, but Sasuke's eyebrow twitched anyway. He was being pandered to. This was even worse than being openly taunted and insulted. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know," Naruto sighed sadly. "Don't worry about it." He pulled back suddenly, his eyes bright and direct. "Sasuke. Quick, what do you want more than anything else right now? If you could have one thing, what would it be?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "An hour with a training post and you at least ten feet away from me and not speaking."

"Ouch," Naruto winced, but he grinned to show that he wasn't really bothered. "I knew it would be something like that. Come on, I know the perfect place. And I'll do you a lot better than ten feet. You can have the entire training ground to yourself for the rest of the day, if you want." He had pulled Sasuke through the doorway, but paused as they reached the livingroom. "Do you want to raid my equipment first? I keep all my spares in the closet there. The good stuff is in the bedroom. Oh! Here, wear this."

Sasuke watched bemused as Naruto removed his forehead protector and presented it to him, beaming with an innocent excitement that would have sat better on a child than a grown shinobi. He could only assume this had meaning for him, because Naruto sighed with pleasure when he tied it in place around his own forehead. As for himself, it was a small price to pay. He wasted no time in equipping himself with the supplies in the closet, and he was appreciative when Naruto disappeared into the bedroom rather than watching over his shoulder. Although he didn't intend to do anything that would run counter to the Hokage's directive, he was still a shinobi. He didn't care to have someone know where he had hidden all of his weapons. A few concealed senbon and a small pack of equipment strapped to his thigh were all it took to put him completely at ease. He shook his head at himself as he waited for Naruto to return. He hadn't realized just how much he relied on having weapons available to him. It didn't matter that he had no plan to use them. Simply knowing they were there made all the difference. He adjusted the forehead protector idly, noting how warm it still was. It did have meaning, he realized, a wry smile pulling at his lips. Once again, Naruto had marked his ownership of him, and this was a mark he couldn't cover with bandages.

Naruto took to the rooftops as soon as they left the apartment, with Sasuke a pace behind him. The trip was brief, but interesting. Although Sasuke had traveled this way often enough under cover of night, he had never considered that some might do so on a normal basis. He found himself wondering at the inhabitants of the buildings they crossed over. Did they mind having shinobi randomly traipse over their roofs? Did they even notice? Naruto was quite light on his feet, and the buildings were sturdy, some as rigid and solid as the ones in Sand village. He still couldn't stop himself from imagining the outrage that would result if anyone dared step foot on a building in his clan's compound. Even as a child, he had been very aware of the etiquette concerning private property. Here there was a decided lack of space, with people packed into apartment buildings that might as well have been hotels in some trade town. Even as he followed Naruto away from the center of the village, the few yards he saw were obviously shared by multiple families. He wondered if the inhabitants were closer as a result of being crammed in together that way, or if it merely led to squabbling and petty grievances. It wasn't until they moved off in the direction of the distant wall that he began to spot enclosures, open spaces and far more trees. He had no doubt that this was where the majority of the shinobi took up residence. Even within a village where all worked toward a common goal, there had to be secrets and competition. That required privacy, space, and distance. He wondered if Naruto's apartment had been chosen only because of the price, or because he had wanted to packed in and surrounded by people. Perhaps he was more lonely than he let on. With his father as the Hokage, he had probably been left to his own devices for the most part. And since Naruto had yet to mention his mother, there could be a very good reason there was no blonde baby in that photo on his shelf.

They skirted the area Sasuke had marked as the private residences of shinobi, following the more closely placed buildings until they began to give way to forest. He was quick to note that aside from one uniformed man he had spotted moving toward the center of the village, the rooftops had remained empty of life for the entire trip. Maybe this mode of travel was less common here than Naruto made it appear. Instead, like his orange, this could simply be another display of Naruto's boldness. Once again, Naruto seemed completely at ease. He doubted that was an affectation. Despite the parallels he had tried to draw between Naruto and Gaara, the former was clearly at home in his village. A moment later he realized that Naruto was even more at home in the trees. That could be a problem.

Sasuke followed more closely, taking care to land on the same place of each branch that Naruto had. It had been four long years since the last time he had traveled this way. He weighed more now, and even back then he hadn't been very good at estimating how much a branch could take. That had worked out in his favor during that last mission, as more than once he had found a branch snapping beneath him and been forced to launch way, coincidentally avoiding what might have been a deadly attack. It was difficult for an enemy to predict his movements when he wasn't even sure a planned landing spot would support him. It wasn't likely that his luck would hold once he was fighting regularly in forested areas, though. He would have to get used to fighting in this environment. Although he had devised a number of potential tactics after that mission, being confined on the outskirts of Sand village he hadn't had a chance to try any of them. He didn't know how much of what Naruto had said in the kitchen had only been meant to goad him, but he had brought up some hard truths regardless. He hadn't improved that much since their last encounter, so a serious spar between them could very well land him in a hospital. He had no aptitude for wind or earth style jutsus, so even the few techniques his teacher had tried to teach him would prove useless in a real fight. Naruto wasn't likely to appreciate him using fire techniques in his village's forests, and he was nearly as bad with water as he was with earth. He still had lightning, but to date his attempts to experiment with that hadn't gone well. All that left was taijutsu and genjutsu, and with Naruto's chakra and stamina he doubted either would make much of a dent. As much as it would gall him to be beaten badly, it would be even worse to have Naruto pandering and pulling his punches the way he had predicted he might.

Everything he knew told him that fighting Naruto right now would be a bad idea. Even a light spar would probably only serve to frustrate him. The desire remained strong, though, a burning need to prove himself. That was his pride gnawing away at him. Naruto might have wanted him primarily for the sex and company, but he could be far more useful as a shinobi. All he needed was a chance to prove that. But now wasn't the time. He knew better. Patience might not have been one of his strong points, but restraint was. He clamped down on the desire to speak up, to catch Naruto's attention and invite him to test his skills himself. He wouldn't do that. If Naruto knew how much he wanted to prove himself, then he could use it against him either by refusing to give him the chance to or by offering the chance as a gift he should be grateful for. He refused to give him such leverage. For now it was enough that he had been able to arm himself without revealing how important it was to him. He hadn't expected that. Did Naruto trust that he wouldn't go against the Hokage's terms, or did he consider him no more of a threat with weapons than he was without them? The thought of being underestimated that badly burned, but if he were honest with himself he considered the weapons more useful as a defense than anything. He had been the target of too many attacks that couldn't be evaded or defended against with his bare hands. If Naruto hadn't offered the weapons, it would only have been a matter of time before he either swallowed his pride and asked or took to creating his own weapons out of whatever he could find. He hadn't been reduced to that, so he should be satisfied to have gained this without offering anything in return. Unfortunately, telling himself that didn't help much.

Naruto was as good as his word. He took him to a small clearing that had been worn down into a training area complete with targets and even a small stream running along one side of it. He didn't waste any time on small talk, for which Sasuke was grateful. Despite his attempts to bury his frustration, it remained a burning knot in his stomach. He watched silently as Naruto crouched by the stream and performed a summoning jutsu. A small green toad appeared and promptly hopped into the water, drawing a scowl from Naruto.

"Hey," Naruto snapped, "I haven't even said what I want yet!"

"Don't care," the toad croaked, its head dropping until only its eyes were above the water. "I don't like you," it bubbled.

Naruto sent a flustered look at Sasuke and quickly released the summon. Then he stood and backed up a few steps. He had a light blush on his scowling face. "That's a new one," he admitted crossly. "We haven't really come to an understanding yet." He looked around, and then moved closer to the forest, where the stream was wider. "I wanted to use a little one so you wouldn't notice him so much. But small means young and, yeah, they're all brats. Toads aren't big on respect to begin with."

"No worse than snakes," Sasuke noted. Naruto's embarrassment reminded him of his first summoning attempt. That had been a cat, assigned to him during the mission so he could get in unarmed and summon the weapons he needed when the time came. Except the cat he called had been so interested in asking after Itachi that it had nearly blown his cover. By the time he was able to make his own pact, he had intentionally chosen a species known for stealth. He hadn't realized then just how bloodthirsty snakes could be. Even the small ones were bottomless pits. In most cases, buying their cooperation wasn't worth their usefulness.

"You summon snakes?" Naruto asked sharply.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not sure what to make of Naruto's startled and wary expression. "Is there something wrong with that?" He had met a Mist ninja once who summoned fish, which had to be the most useless summon a person could call for in the desert. At least snakes were versatile, and some had venom more potent than any poison a shinobi might concoct. The only trouble was getting one to hold still long enough to milk the venom required to create a reliable antivenom. They didn't even like their summoners to have a defense against them.

"No," Naruto mumbled, turning away, "I guess not. I was just surprised. Snakes and toads..." He shook his head, flashing a wincing look at Sasuke. "Don't mention that to any of my friends, though, okay? They might get the wrong idea."

"I don't understand." He knew that shinobi in different regions had their own preferences as far as summons went, but snakes lived everywhere. The only thing better might be birds, which were good for communication and traveling long distances. But they weren't very useful offensively and they had to travel by air, where they were easily spotted. As far as he could tell, snakes were the next best thing to insects, with whom he had no affinity whatsoever.

"It's Orochimaru," Naruto sighed, frowning at him. "Snake summons aren't very welcome around here."

"Because the leader of Sound summons them?" That was a petty reason to be biased against an entire species. By that logic, Konoha might as well avoid summoning birds simply because Itachi summoned crows.

"Well, it's mostly because he summons the really big ones like Manda," Naruto winced. "We had an altercation with him a few years ago and those snake summons of his did a lot of damage to the village. And..." He sighed, glancing at the spot where his toad had been. "I summon Gamabunta, and his whole family hates Manda, so...it would just be a lot easier if they don't find out you summon snakes. At least not right away. I'm sure they'll get over it eventually, but right now I'd rather avoid that issue."

"Understood." He had no intention of summoning anything unless it was necessary for a mission, so it really made no difference to him. He still thought it was a foolish bias. It wasn't as if he had ever attempted to summon Manda himself. By all accounts, Manda required human sacrifices. He had never been in a position where he had that many enemies to take out, not to mention the sheer amount of chakra it would take to call him. A snake that large certainly wouldn't lend itself to the sort of stealth missions he specialized in.

Naruto flashed him another quick look, an apologetic one this time, before turning back to perform another summon. The toad that arrived this time was enormous, with a mouth easily big enough to swallow a man. Sasuke couldn't even begin to guess what Naruto usually did with toads that large. Then again, he couldn't see the usefulness in summoning toads at all. He supposed their jumping ability might be handy in a mountainous region, but a large bird would do the job even better. The toad eyed him for a moment before cracking a grin at Naruto.

"Yo. This the love of your life?" the toad asked.

Naruto scowled, bristling a little in embarrassment. "Tease me later, okay, Gamakichi? This is Sasuke, and he's going to be training here for a while. I just want you to make yourself small and inconspicuous and hang out till he's done. If you're too busy, you can get someone else to do it for you. I won't mind. I tried to ask Genji, but he's still being a pain."

"I told you that you'd have to bribe him first," the toad said in amusement. "I don't know why you wanted to go and summon him, anyway."

"Because you don't like making yourself small," Naruto shrugged.

"And you blame me?" Gamakichi demanded. "What's the point growing big enough to carry you when you're going to turn around and ask me to shrink enough to fit in your pocket? I have my pride, you know."

"I know, I know. So, can you hang around for a while? Or get someone who can?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. It'll give me a chance to scope him out so I can tell Pops all about him. I still can't believe you had to go and get the hots for an Uchiha. Out of all the people you could have picked, you had to go and get one of the few who have-"

"Hey!" Naruto yelped. "I didn't bring you here to run your mouth. If you stay, then don't talk to him or bother him or anything. Just keep an eye out and get me if anything happens."

Sasuke met the toad's gaze evenly as it eyed him again, its manner a lot more serious now. He was curious what the summon had been about to say, particularly since Naruto hadn't wanted him to hear it. At the same time, he had a feeling he was better off not knowing. He had more than enough unanswered questions as it was.

"Why not just use a bunshin?" Gamakichi asked, sounding a bit put out.

"Because," Naruto scowled. "I don't want to."

"Right," the toad snorted. "I get it. He's sick of you already."

"That's not-"

The toad cut him off, waving a large webbed hand at him. "I got this, take it easy. I'll watch him for you."

"I don't want you to watch him," Naruto huffed. "Just keep an eye out."

"Right." The toad shrunk until it was about the size of a small dog, and then hopped to the other side of the stream. It took up residence on a sunny rock, with its back to them.

Naruto sighed as he turned back to Sasuke. "I'm sorry about this. It was the best thing I could think of. I'm sure you can handle yourself, but I'm really not comfortable with the idea of you being alone out here. This way you can have some space and I won't worry so much."

"It's fine," said Sasuke. He preferred being left with the summon rather than a bunshin. He wouldn't have any problem ignoring it if the summon decided to annoy him. He had already learned that having Naruto stare at him was nearly as distracting as having him speak. Even if his bunshin did remain silent, he was sure it would end up watching him the entire time. "How long do I have here?"

Naruto forced a weak smile onto his face. "As long as you want. Take your time. Let him know when you're ready to go and he'll get me." He looked at him for a long moment, and then turned his back sharply. "See you later, Sasuke."

"Ah." He watched him walk into the forest, going quite a ways on foot before taking to the trees. He was impressed that Naruto didn't once look back.

In the end, he did very little training. He had requested a training post to beat on and that was exactly what he targeted. What he wanted most was to exercise, to stretch his muscles and feel that he hadn't gone completely soft after having been inactive for so long. Over the last two years he had gotten into a daily routine that he now missed more than he had expected to. He would wake, eat, spend the morning doing as much taijutsu as it took to wear him out, and then the afternoons were spent using up his chakra so that by nightfall he was as exhausted and shaky as he would be in a real battle situation. That was when he experimented, when the real training began. He doubted he would have the time to wear himself out enough to reach that point any time soon. Perhaps he wouldn't need to. He had only fallen into that routine in the first place because his teacher had run out of things to teach him. Even if Naruto couldn't give him access to any restricted jutsus, there were bound to be some new ones that Konoha took for granted, which he hadn't learned yet. Barring that, there was always the forest. He could borrow from Naruto's example and use a few bunshin to accelerate the training if time was an issue.

He was hoping time wouldn't always be an issue. As a shinobi, Naruto must have his own routine, with plenty of time allotted to training. His arrival would have messed up that routine, so once the newness wore off he would go back to it. He refused to consider the possibility that Naruto was beyond needing to train on a daily basis. Even his father trained on a daily basis and he hadn't done a mission in years. As a future Hokage, Naruto would have to keep his skills sharp no matter how high his level already was. Sasuke imagined he would also be learning to rule the village, which would probably involve time spent in conferences or pouring over documents. Surely he wouldn't be expected to sit quietly and wait while Naruto was busy doing those things. If he were to consider this situation in a positive light, his training might very well benefit more here than it would have had he remained with the clan. He would never have taken Sand's offer to continue training him in exchange for using him in a way that wasn't in the clan's best interests. And without Itachi, there was no one in the clan who could teach him anything he didn't already know. Except his father? He dismissed that notion the moment he thought of it. He had never seen his father in action, and had only been taught by him once. According to tradition, it had been his father's duty to teach him his first katon jutsu. When he failed to learn it within a week, he had lost any chance he had of interesting the man. Even after awakening the sharingan, he knew his father would have been gravely insulted if anyone had suggested he take the time to train him. That was just as well. He wouldn't have wanted to risk a repeat performance, either. The worst part was that his father hadn't been disappointed in him at all, because he had never held any hopes for him to begin with.

He put his full weight into the blows, leaving his chakra to dampen the impact. Although the training post was sturdy despite the visible wear, he had reinforced it with chakra wire. This had an added benefit of limiting where he could strike, close enough to the wire to take advantage of the chakra, but not so close that he risked cutting himself. The wire itself showed no signs of wear despite being part of Naruto's spare equipment, making him wonder if he had ever bothered to use it. Well, Sasuke would certainly put it to good use. That was one of the few skills his jounin teacher had imparted on him, and one that was bound to come in handy once he began experimenting in the trees. He tried to focus on that, to set his mind to devising a training regimen that would take advantage of the environment, while also maximizing what he already knew.

It didn't work. Instead of feeling more optimistic about his prospects, he found his stomach clenching with worry for the clan's future. He couldn't ignore it. His father had taught him who the members of the clan were, what sway they held in the council, but he had learned little about the active shinobi. Who was going to be doing the most important missions now that Itachi was gone? He had a met a few of the shinobi who had taken over his own missions after he was called back, but it had taken two three man teams to cover those missions, and two of the members had died in the last four years. If they couldn't even make up for the loss of him as an active shinobi, they had no hope of completing the sort of missions Itachi had been assigned. What would they do now? The clan's reputation remained intact, and the potential would always be in their blood, but they were falling behind. The world continued to evolve around them while they remained fixed in one place. It was ironic that he now found himself in the land of trees while the rest of the clan were so firmly rooted it would take an earthquake to budge them. A shift would have to take place whether they liked it or not. They didn't have the numbers to continue taking the missions others were unwilling to risk their own people on, not without Itachi and himself to take up the slack. A shift to information gathering would give them time for the next generation to come of age. But what would it take for them to seriously consider that? Sasuke had only heard the idea brought up once, and the elders had shot it down by pointing out that there were other clans that specialized in that sort of thing. It wasn't a solution that would let them compete evenly and never would be. But it could be a temporary fix, a way to maintain their prestige while also buying the time needed for the clan to recover some of its dwindling numbers. Information could be more deadly than the best assassin. It certainly paid more.

A rustle of leaves warned him that he had company. He turned to see two shinobi with Leaf forehead protectors land just inside the clearing. Their uniforms were the same as the ones who had brought him to the village, so he assumed they were jounin. Did that mean they were clumsier than Naruto, who had wisped silently through the trees, or had they intentionally let him hear their approach? One of them had dark brown hair tied in a short tail at the nape of his neck, just like the shinobi he had spotted moving over the rooftops earlier. He hadn't gotten a good look at the man's face before, but he thought it safe to assume this was the same person. The man looked suspicious and angry, but not overly threatening. The pale haired man accompanying him merely looked confused.

"He's just a genin," the pale-haired one muttered.

"At that age?" the other man demanded angrily. "I told you, he's an Uchiha. Didn't you see his back?"

"Here? Wearing a Leaf hitai-ate?"

"Exactly," the man snapped. He turned his attention back to Sasuke and took a sharp step forward. "What are you doing in our village? And what have you done with the brat?"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the nickname. Just how many people in this village referred to Naruto that way? He didn't intend to explain himself, or to engage them at all, for that matter. But this was a chance to gain information both on Naruto and Konoha's shinobi. If word hadn't gotten out about him yet, then he had to wonder exactly what story was being disseminated. The Hokage had said he was officially a political prisoner, but officially didn't necessarily mean publicly. If they were spreading a story less humiliating than the truth, he didn't want to be the one to ruin it. He gave a subtle glance out of the corner of his eye, noting that Naruto's toad was still where it had been sitting all along. It was facing his way, though. He reigned in his curiosity. As a rule, he rarely went out of his way to gain information his superiors didn't want him to have. Even if he did decided that rule didn't apply to this situation, he definitely wouldn't break it in front of Naruto's summon.

The other man sighed, muttering to himself. "If he's involved, then it's probably a prank. Let's just stay out of it and-"

The dark-haired one pulled a kunai and advanced forward. It was more of an attempt to be intimidating than an outright threat, but Sasuke decided it was enough. His eyes flashed red.

"Hey!" the man yelled, whipping around to glare at the trees. "Get back here!" He darted toward the canopy, only to be caught by his startled companion.

"What the hell are you thinking? If he really is an Uchiha, the last thing you should do is chase after him. Report it. You better hope it's not one of Naruto's pranks, though, or you'll never hear the end of it."

"You think I can't tell a henge from the real thing?"

"I think you just got back from a really long mission and you should be filing your report instead of dragging me halfway across the village on a hunch."

"Hunch, my ass. I'm telling you, he looks just like Itachi. Even the brat wouldn't pull a prank like that."

"What? Since when do you know what he looks like?"

The dark-haired man snorted in contempt. "He looks just like Fugaku. Everyone knows that."

The two continued to argue as they darted off into the forest. Sasuke stared after them. His eyes had faded to black, but his eyebrow was still ticking when Naruto's toad suddenly hopped over to stand beside him.

"What did you do?" asked Gamakichi.

"Genjutsu," Sasuke muttered. A very simple one, in fact. He was stunned that it had taken both men so easily. He turned a disgruntled look down at the summon. "Were they chunin?"

"Jounin by the looks of them," the toad said. It continued to stare up at Sasuke, frowning as much as its face allowed. "I don't think they meant any harm. Just protecting their own."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at what he took as censure. It wasn't as if he had hurt them. And if the one man really could see through a henge, then he should have been able to recognize and dispel a basic illusion. He turned his back on the toad, and began unraveling the chakra wire from the training post. There was no point remaining here when the two might return with more questions he couldn't answer. If the toad thought using an illusion on them was bad, he doubted it would appreciate the action he would have taken had he allowed the confrontation to become physical instead.

He was just turning back to the toad when someone appeared directly in front of him. He recoiled, instinctively activating the sharingan and drawing a kunai. A split second later, he realized his mistake. He snapped out of his crouch, stowing the weapon and blacking his eyes. What had he done to alert the Hokage himself? His genjutsu had been harmless, merely a way to divert a would-be confrontation. And how had he found out about it so quickly? His blood ran cold as he realized his first suspicion had been correct. There had been Anbu shadowing him. Of course there were. Konoha wouldn't have earned a reputation if it were foolish enough to trust someone with his skills that quickly. They would be keeping an eye on him to protect Naruto as well. The only question was whether or not Naruto knew about it. He probably did. That would explain why he had left the toad behind, so Sasuke wouldn't wonder that he was being left entirely unwatched. It had been a way to divert him from the real eyes watching his every move.

"I'm sorry for startling you," the Hokage said. Without his robes, his resemblance to Naruto was more striking than ever. "Naruto tells me you're willing to share information with us. I'd like you to speak with a member of our intelligence division."

"Intelligence?" the toad blurted, staring up at the man in horror. "Are you talking about Ibiki? Does Naruto know about this?"

Blue eyes dropped to the toad, a small smile crossing the man's face. "As of yet, no, he does not. You may inform him in two hours. Teleporting directly to Sasuke should prove to be a good test for him."

"He'll go insane," the toad whispered.

"I expect so," the Hokage smiled. He beckoned to Sasuke, who obediently fell into step beside him. "I understand that you haven't had a chance to look around the village yet. But I'm sure you've seen enough to form a first impression. What do you think?"

"It's quiet," Sasuke said blankly. He was numb. His fear had hardened and dropped, leaving cold emptiness in its wake. He knew very well that 'intelligence' was a euphemism for interrogation, which went hand in hand with torture. He doubted he would be subjected to anything extreme, but the simple fact was he had never been interrogated at all. The thought of someone picking his mind for information was disturbing. He had nothing to hide as far as Sound or Mist were concerned. That was the information he had offered freely to Naruto. But there were clan secrets that couldn't be revealed even to allies. He couldn't tell them anything about Itachi, for instance, because there was always a chance it would end up hurting the rest of the clan as well. Even some of the things he knew about Sand had to be guarded for as long as the clan remained their ally.

"And Naruto?" the man prodded, sounding pleased with his answer.

"Not quiet." This drew a laugh from the man beside him. Sasuke kept his eyes on the ground beneath his feet. They were walking through the forest at a leisurely pace, as if they were in no hurry to get to their destination. He would have preferred teleporting directly there. Although he was dreading this, he also wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. It might even be nice to know, finally, just what he was capable of withstanding. But he supposed dragging this out was part of the psychological aspect, to leave him impatient and uneasy, and more likely to slip up as a result. He was reminded again of exactly why Sand shinobi suicided when captured. With the right approach, a skilled interrogator could break anyone. Then again, his father knew that as well as he did. Maybe his father had taken it for granted that Konoha would strip him of any information they could gain before killing him. It might be a waste of time for him to worry about giving information the clan already assumed Konoha had gained from him. That didn't stop him from wanting to protect their secrets with his life.

"He has his moments," the man said fondly. "I had hoped to have him train a genin team, but he never had the patience for it. It's a shame. He has a way with children." He dropped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, causing him to halt and look up. "I expect quite a few of them," he said seriously. "I also expect that Naruto will want a hand in raising them. Will you have a problem with that?"

"No," Sasuke blurted. He had always assumed he would have children someday, if he lived long enough to marry. He had no idea what sort of parent he might make, and he suspected he would resent that the children he helped to raise were Naruto's rather than his own, but he certainly had no bias against children in general. He was surprised the Hokage was already thinking that far ahead, though. Had he brought the subject up as a test? Or was he seriously hoping Naruto would start breeding as soon as possible? Although he didn't mind the thought of raising children, he definitely didn't want to be demoted to the role of nursemaid. Perhaps that was the reason the man had brought it up, to force him to look ahead in case he had a mind to back out of this arrangement later.

"Good."

They broke from the forest and were immediately swooped down upon by a number of shinobi and civilians eager to greet the Hokage. Sasuke kept his eyes away from the curious looks he garnered. He noticed that none of them asked about him, despite their obvious interest. He also noticed that they had more than loyalty for their leader. There was clear affection in the way they addressed him, which he seemed to return easily. He couldn't avoid eavesdropping when the man was standing right next to him. Did they have no discretion whatsoever? One of the shinobi talked openly about a recent assignment, with the Hokage making no efforts to silence him. By the time the last of them went on his way, Sasuke was feeling extremely uncomfortable. That might have been why he suddenly noticed the presence over his right shoulder. His senses were on high alert and quick to note that someone had been been there since they stepped out of the trees.

"That should do it," the Hokage said, flashing a pleased look at Sasuke before turning to look behind him. "You can have him now, Kakashi."

A pale-haired man hopped down beside them. He was dressed in the jounin uniform rather than the Anbu one, but one look at his masked face and single visible eye had Sasuke convinced this man was an Anbu. Not just any Anbu, either. He was the one who had carried him the rest of the way here, and the one who had accompanied Naruto before he had finally lost the two in Sound. Had this man been one of the ones watching him earlier, or had he only just arrived? The man gave him a cool look that confused and intimidated him more than he cared to admit. He dropped his eyes. He didn't know what was going on. All he knew for certain was that he had done nothing wrong. They should have been grateful that he was willing to share information with them. Instead he was being taken to be interrogated and possibly tortured. Did they want to make an enemy of him?

"The Torture and Interrogation department?" Kakashi asked.

The man sounded amused, which only angered Sasuke even more. He was rapidly losing all respect for them. This was uncalled for, and very foolish on their part. He stared at the ground, forcibly calming his heart rate and blanking his face. He had no mercy for his enemies. They had no idea how dangerous he could be. All he had to do was bide his time until he had an opportunity to act without leaving them cause to retaliate against the clan. They had handed him Naruto, and if they couldn't see how vulnerable that made them, then all the better. Naruto had openly invited him to take advantage of him, so who was he to turn down an invitation like that? The panic that had been fluttering around inside him since the Hokage's abrupt appearance finally settled into true calm. He looked up to find the gray-haired man watching him, looking just as amused as he had sounded. That was fine. The more the man enjoyed this, the more justified Sasuke would be when he repaid him for it later.

"Make it quick," the Hokage responded. "I doubt Gamakichi will be able to wait even an hour before telling Naruto."

"You're twisted," Kakashi said approvingly, before adding as an afterthought, "Hokage-sama."

The blonde man grinned, "Not at all. I just know my son far too well." He lifted a hand and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The jounin turned his amused gaze on Sasuke, who took the opportunity to look him over more closely. He wondered how much the man had improved since that fateful mission. He knew the man had summoned nindogs to track him, and that he was quick and loose with the replacement jutsu. Otherwise, he hadn't seen very much. The man seemed to have made a point of not revealing whatever ninjutsu he specialized in. He was clearly arrogant. He seemed to notice how much his amusement bothered Sasuke, because he laid it on more thickly than ever now that it was just the two of them.

"Well," Kakashi drawled. "Let's be off. Do try to keep up. I'd hate to have to carry you. Again."

Sasuke gave no reaction to the barb. He refused to give him any more satisfaction than he already had. Once again he found himself rushing over the rooftops. So it wasn't just Naruto who traveled this way. The man, Kakashi, went much faster than Naruto had. Testing him, perhaps. Sasuke had no trouble keeping pace with him. Unlike chakra control and stamina, speed was one of his strong points. It was also one of the few things he had learned from an actual Uchiha, a close friend of his brother's before he had left and everything had changed.

They stopped at a tall inconspicuous looking building and entered by the front door. There was nothing to give away what the place was. He had expected to be bombarded with a strong smell, blood and antiseptics, possibly chemicals. He should have known better. The people manning the desk out front were mere chunin, who might never advance enough to know what went on in the recesses of the building. One of them looked up curiously, but didn't question Kakashi when he led Sasuke past and down the corridor to the left. There was a strong scent in this hall, but it was one of ink and parchment. He wondered what sort of information was stored here and what sort of wards they had in place to protect it. Kakashi halted outside a door at the end of the hall, rapped lightly on it, and then opened it to reveal a scarred dark-skinned man with a black cloth over his head and a desk cluttered with scrolls.

"Kakashi," the man greeted, frowning at his visitors.

"Ibiki," Kakashi said with a flourish, "this is Uchiha Sasuke."

Dark eyes flicked to Sasuke for a short moment before narrowing back on Kakashi. "I can see that. Why is he in my office?"

Sasuke let himself be prodded into the room, resenting the hand on his shoulder nearly as much as he did the entire situation. None of that made it to his face, however. He was warring with his instinctive need to respect the man seated before him. There was nothing intimidating, vicious, or amusing in his manner, just cool confidence and a touch of annoyance at being interrupted. This was the sort of shinobi Sasuke preferred dealing with. If there was a petty or sadistic streak in the man, he hid it very well.

"He's here because he has information to share. Voluntarily," Kakashi added, when Ibiki raised an eyebrow.

"Shut the door," said Ibiki. He waited until Kakashi had done so, then waved Sasuke toward the chair across from his desk. "Sit. Who have you worked with?"

"Everyone except Konoha, as far as I know," Sasuke frowned. That had to be the most vague question the man might have asked. Kakashi snorted softly at his response, but both he and Ibiki ignored it.

"Let me rephrase that," Ibiki nodded. "Who have you worked for?"

"I've done solo missions for all of the daimyo's save Fire Country's. As far as the shinobi villages are concerned, I've primarily worked for Sound, Mist, and Rain."

"Rain?" Kakashi repeated, sounding choked somehow.

Ibiki shot him an unamused look. "Should I ask you to wait outside?"

"No. Sorry."

Sasuke was surprised at how quiet and sober the man sounded. He supposed he should be worried that this Ibiki could garner respect from the mocking jounin, but he wasn't. He would wait until the man did something threatening to him before he worried.

"What work did you do for Rain?" Ibiki asked Sasuke.

"Delivery of classified information. Five years ago there were an especially large number of missives to Mist in particular. I led a squad of no fewer than five for those, always Rain or Mist shinobi. They never survived the trips." Ibiki nodded, obviously understanding the real reasons behind those missions. It was a simple way for the villages to get rid of their own shinobi. Sasuke had been under orders to take and guard the missive at the first sign of an attack. He never learned how or why the squads he left behind were killed, just that they always were.

"Was there any similar communication going on between Rain and Sound at that time?"

"No," Sasuke answered. "The only missives I ever took from Sound went directly to Sand. They hired me for assassinations more than anything."

Ibiki sent an unreadable look at Kakashi, and then bent to dig in a drawer. He slapped a thick book down on the desk in front of Sasuke. "How many of these are yours?"

It wasn't until Sasuke opened the book that he realized what it was. A Bingo Book. He knew that all shinobi villages had them, of course, but he had never seen one himself. This one was rather old, with most of the pictures already crossed out. Few of those were his. He pointed out the ones that were, telling who had hired him for each mission. Ibiki didn't ask for many details, simply marking the pages. He wondered if they would take his word for the deaths, or if they would investigate them first. He had usually disposed of them on the spot, or delivered them to be disposed of by their own villages. It wasn't until he came to the first man he had killed that Ibiki showed a hint of doubt. The book listed the man as having been a master of genjutsu, which Sasuke had never known.

"He hasn't been seen in at least nine years. We know you haven't had the sharingan that long. How are you claiming to have killed him?"

"With a poisoned senbon," Sasuke said flatly.

He hadn't needed the sharingan or ninjutsu, or even skills. He had been given the mission precisely because he hadn't needed any training in order to pull it off. It had been his trial run. If he hadn't succeeded on that mission, he might never have become a shinobi. "He targeted children. I was the right age. I simply waited near his last known location until he came after me. I had the senbon hidden in my hair. When he grabbed me, he cut himself and died within seconds." He didn't mention that the man had flung him into the river the moment he was cut, nearly drowning him in the process and instilling a phobia that had taken him three years to get rid of. The important thing was that he had survived, the body had remained untouched until he made his way back to it, and he had guarded it for days before a squad of shinobi arrived to dispose of it. "Rock hired me for that mission. I doubt they would deny it if you feel the need to verify it with them."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow at his tone, and Sasuke bit back anything else he might have said. That mission had been messy, and had he been a few years older and forced to use a henge, he might not have accomplished it. But he had, and there had been four shinobi on the retrieval team who could confirm that. What reason would he have to lie about it, anyway? Any civilian child could have done the same thing he had. Rock hadn't been willing to risk one of their own, so it had fallen to him. That was all there was to it.

"He had quite a reputation for being picky," Kakashi commented. "You must have been a cute kid."

Sasuke's eyes widened and it was all he could do not to whip around and stare at the man. Of all the things to joke about! As it was, Ibiki stared for him.

"Sometimes I wonder about you, Kakashi..."

"What? You know you were thinking the exact same thing. Anyway, I have to get Sasuke out of here now." Kakashi reached down to catch Sasuke's arm, drawing him out of the chair. He ignored the look Sasuke was giving him. "You can continue this later, right?"

"How much later?" Ibiki demanded, rising to scowl at Kakashi. "The things he knows could be vital to-"

"A few days, if that," Kakashi assured him. "Just long enough for Naruto to calm down."

Ibiki's face blanked suddenly, then his eyes narrowed. "Does he know-"

"No," Kakashi said flatly. "He'll be finding out any minute now. You might want to make yourself scarce for the rest of the day."

"If this was your idea," Ibiki started, in a low growling tone.

Kakashi raised his empty hand. "Not me. Full credit for this goes to our esteemed Hokage, who in his infinite wisdom decided this was an appropriate way to pay his son back for that little stunt he pulled at the hospital."

"So I have to suffer because he can't control the brat," Ibiki muttered, grabbing an armful of scrolls off his desk.

"It's not just you," Kakashi said, as if to make him feel better. "I get the feeling Sasuke would like to kill me, and with his record that's nothing to take lightly."

"I hope he succeeds," Ibiki muttered, as he elbowed his way past them and out of the room.

Kakashi released Sasuke's arm and smiled down at him. "You're not actually allowed to kill me. Sorry. But you can attempt to pay me back as much as you like." His smile faded when he caught sight of Sasuke's expression. He leaned down to look more closely at him, not minding when Sasuke recoiled. "Oh," he blinked. "You still don't get it. Well, all the better."

Sasuke flinched when the man caught hold of the back of his shirt, yanking him close enough to teleport them out of the room. The moment he was released, he backed away and bumped right into a training post. He jumped in surprise, whipping a quick glare over his shoulder at it. Kakashi chuckled at him, no doubt enjoying how confused and wary he was. He immediately turned his glare on him.

Kakashi met his anger with a careless smile that only served to irritate him even more. "You made quite a few claims in there, for a mere genin. Let's see if you have the skills to back those claims up."

.-.  
TBC


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't take Sasuke long to realize he was being tested. He wasn't allowed near the trees, where he might have had some cover to mask his actions. He used a basic Body Flicker technique once, just to see how determined the man was to keep him out in the open. Kakashi promptly did the same, catching up and driving him back toward the center of the training ground. Aside from the hand signs Kakashi used to add smoke to the move, it was identical. Sasuke immediately determined not to use the technique again. For all he knew, Shisui had picked the technique up in Konoha, and it was a standard skill for all of the shinobi in the village. If he had built upon the technique in any way, Sasuke didn't plan to reveal it. That was what the man seemed to want from him, after all. He was reminded of the test Sand had put him through, where he had stood in a room and performed jutsus on command. He was already a recognized genin. Why should he suffer through that again?

He stopped moving, pausing a few feet from the post he had bumped into earlier. He was waiting for the taunts to begin. Aside from a bland comment about learning to 'see beneath the underneath,' the man hadn't said anything since inviting him to attack. He was beginning to suspect that this entire thing had been a ploy to leave him confused and angry, just so this man could test his level. He might have accepted that grudgingly if their tactics hadn't scared him as well. He couldn't do a thing about his confusion, but if it was anger the man wanted out of him, that was precisely what he wouldn't get. He relaxed his stance and quickly, but casually, took better note of his surroundings. Whoever regularly used this training ground was sloppy, because there were a number of weapons that had been forgotten and left behind. Kakashi hadn't bothered to recover the two kunai he had thrown while herding him away from the forest earlier, but he disregarded those entirely. For all he knew those might have been left intentionally as some sort of trap. There was no water near this training area, but there were plenty of soft leaves mixed with the dead ones spotting the packed dirt. He supposed he could use that. The man might even find it amusing, which he could use to his advantage. There was no cover to be had, and none he could make without tearing up the ground itself. Destroying this training area wouldn't bother him, especially if it served to annoy Kakashi or the Hokage, but he had to consider the shinobi who regularly used the spot. He had nothing against them. So far.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi called, still sounding as amused as ever. "Are you that afraid to attack me directly?"

Not afraid, just reluctant. If Konoha did intend to use him, even if it was limited to allowing him to accompany Naruto on missions, then they would need to know some of his weaknesses. That didn't mean he had to like it. He sniffed and turned his back, walking a few feet away so the training post was behind him. "Shinobi attack from the shadows." As he had expected, the man made no move to attack him from behind. Kakashi expected him to display his skills, without revealing any of his own.

"Ah, but unfortunately we can't wait until nightfall. We don't have much time at all. So I suggest you get on with it. Unless you're content to remain a genin?"

As if they had any intention of changing his rank. Naruto had already warned him about the unlikelihood of that. He turned anyway, glaring until the man was satisfied that his taunt had struck home. If he were going to be taunted for being a genin, then he should at least prove that he could perform like one. Genin level techniques were nothing to scoff at, anyway. There was a good reason they formed the basics of all higher level techniques. As someone who had relied almost entirely on the replacement technique during that Anbu mission, Kakashi knew that as well as he did. He thumbed open the pack strapped to his thigh and pulled out two kunai and a senbon. There was no point trying to hide anything, so he didn't bother. He tossed one of the kunai into the air, flicking up the senbon to redirect it so it landed at the man's feet. If Kakashi noticed that the senbon embedded itself in the training post, so be it. He wrapped chakra wire around the second kunai and fired it directly at the man's head. He had his attention now, and a bit of interest, but he could see a hint of annoyance in Kakashi's eye when he easily dodged the missile. He tugged it back, just in case Kakashi hadn't noticed the wire, and let it fall placidly to the ground a few feet behind the man.

Kakashi sighed, eyeing Sasuke's set up with a touch more visible annoyance. "You're not playing like a proper Uchiha, you know."

"We don't play," Sasuke responded. That was the entire point. If the Hokage had wanted to test him, he should have said so. He didn't appreciate being played with, especially if he was just being used to punish Naruto for whatever 'stunt' it was that he had pulled. He had gathered that much without looking underneath anything. He waited to see if Kakashi would wait for him to spring his trap, or if he were going to end this charade now. When the man shook his head and remained right where he was, he had his answer.

"I suppose they don't," Kakashi said. "But they are supposed to impress people. You haven't done that yet."

Sasuke smirked, giving him a taste of his own amusement. "Sorry to disappoint you." He sincerely hoped he was about to disappoint him even further.

He snapped his end of the chakra wire, letting it drift to the ground by his feet. Then he performed a henge, doing the hand signs slowly enough that even a civilian would have been able to follow them. He could see Kakashi's attention heighten, just a little. Did he think he was transforming the senbon embedded on his side of the training post, or something else in the yard? There weren't many pebbles beneath the loose leaf cover, so he would probably notice if one suddenly transformed into something else. Then again, it wasn't as if Sasuke was making an attempt to hide anything. Kakashi had wanted this out in the open, so far be it from him to use subterfuge or anything befitting of a shinobi. He barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. If he had known he would be doing this, he would have borrowed some of Naruto's orange before leaving the apartment.

Since he had Naruto's word that it was a Konoha favorite, he performed a multiple shadow clone jutsu next. That was a mistake. It was obvious that Kakashi had been hoping for something like that, because he looked far more interested, his posture tightening in anticipation. Had he impressed him after all? No, he didn't think so. The man certainly wasn't watching for an army of clones to spring from the trees. Then again, maybe he didn't have to be visibly on guard in order to deflect an attack. He was a jounin, and an Anbu besides. Maybe he had even seen right through him. After their last encounter, Kakashi probably knew he didn't have the chakra to create that many clones of himself. Sasuke watched him closely, noting the exact moment he started to get bored with the wait. He performed another henge, going through the hand signs a little quicker this time. That did the trick. Kakashi was back to being annoyed and possibly disappointed. He didn't seem to have any idea what he was doing. Sasuke smirked again, just in case it would annoy him. Whether Kakashi thought he was wasting his time or building up to some sort of attack, it was obvious the man didn't appreciate his methods at all. That made them even. No matter what he tied around around his forehead, he wasn't their shinobi. If they wanted him to perform on command, they would have to make it worth his time.

"Would you expect a real enemy to stay in one place this long?" Kakashi drawled.

"If he had no legs," Sasuke said, just to make him wonder. The man was standing right between two kunai, one of which still had chakra wire attached to it and leading directly to him. The clan had come from Konoha originally, so their affinity for fire jutsus should be common knowledge here. Unfortunately, his retort had the wrong effect, bringing a spark of amusement to the man's dark eye.

Sasuke quickly flew through another henge jutsu, at nowhere near his top speed but fast enough to show that he wasn't entirely ignoring this pointless genin test. There was a wisp from the training post as the ball dropped into the little cradle he had transformed for it. Kakashi must have had sharp ears because his attention snapped toward the sound. Sasuke was finished, anyway, so it didn't matter. He took a deep breath and performed the most pitiful water release imaginable. It didn't even reach far enough for Kakashi to have to dodge it, and he could only transform his chakra into enough water to leave a light sprinkle over the ground. Sadly, it was the best he could do without a water source nearby. Happily, the display brought open disgust to Kakashi's face. It was almost comical.

"Who was your jounin instructor?" Kakashi demanded. "Did he teach you nothing?"

"Gotou Aritomo was my instructor," Sasuke admitted. "He tried to teach me wind release, but I didn't take to it. Suiton suits me much better."

Kakashi's gaze snapped down to the drops of water speckling the ground, and Sasuke could almost see his mind working. This man might have enjoyed games, but he didn't appreciate being the butt of one. He was trying to determine the rules Sasuke was playing by.

That was his mistake. Sasuke had never been playing to begin with. Kakashi had annoyed him and was now wasting his time. He was merely returning the favor.

He snatched up the ball and darted in a small circle, firing his remaining weapons so that the man was forced to move at least a little in order to dodge them. After the first few, Kakashi pulled a kunai of his own and used that to deflect them. The man still made no attempt to attack in return, merely turning to track Sasuke's progress and blocking or dodging what came close enough to move him. Sasuke ran out of weapons sooner than he would have liked, but Kakashi had shuffled the green water-specked leaves around enough to do the job. He was now standing in the middle of a small wet area spotted with metal weapons. Perhaps he had seen through everything and was still waiting to be impressed. Sasuke did one more round of the training area, picking up the weapons that had been left there and firing those at him as he charged the ball in his hand, transforming as much of his chakra into lightning as he could without it being audible. When he returned to his original position by the training post, he tossed the ball into the air and fired a small katon jutsu at it. The clash was ugly enough to capture Kakashi's attention as Sasuke snatched up the chakra wire and flung the kunai on the other end into the crackling ball. He released the henge a second before the kunai struck the cluster of cloned senbon.

The resulting spray had a nice trajectory to it, and it was satisfying to see that Kakashi deflected a number of them before realizing there wasn't just fire in the chakra coating them. The kunai tumbled from his numbed fingers and he darted out of the trap before the currents crackling over the ground could catch him. He didn't waste time adding smoke to the body flicker this time, so Sasuke added some to his own when he dashed over to halt him with a kick to the gut. If he couldn't run for the trees, then Kakashi couldn't either. Kakashi blocked the blow, of course, and easily countered the flurry of taijutsu Sasuke followed it up with. He also seemed unwilling to back up into the still crackling area Sasuke had prepared for him. He was strong enough that budging him was out of the question. Sasuke didn't need to move him, though. His own movements were stirring up enough current for some of the damp leaves to swish against the man's legs. It probably had no more effect than a wasp sting, but those could be quite irritating. Kakashi did look rather annoyed now.

"Was that the extent of your plan?" Kakashi asked, as he pushed back against Sasuke's assault enough to be out of the leaves' range. "To trap me in that spot and tingle me to death?"

The man was taunting him again, but Sasuke could tell he was disappointed, possibly even disgusted. That was gratifying enough that Sasuke put a little more effort into his taijutsu. He wouldn't give him the sharingan, and he certainly wasn't going to waste anymore chakra, but he had to admit that Kakashi was more fun to beat on than a training post. A little more of this and the man might even start fighting back. He began targeting his face. People with masks usually disliked that, and this one was no different. He kept it up until Kakashi, visibly exasperated, caught one of his fists. Sasuke promptly swiped his foot over one of the kunai littering the ground, attached it with his chakra and rammed it into the man's right ankle. The response was immediate and painful. Sasuke blocked the worst of the blow but found himself skidding back a few yards before he could get enough traction to stop himself. He didn't bother rising out of his crouch because Kakashi made no move to come after him.

There was no visible emotion on Kakashi's face as he stared down at the kunai protruding from his leg. For a moment Sasuke worried that he might have gone too far, but he quickly squelched that. It was a basic genin level move, no more difficult than tree climbing, and if Kakashi hadn't seen it coming, it was his own fault. The man was lucky he hadn't been close enough to snag the kunai with the chakra wire attached. Or the senbon. He had kicked him hard enough that he might have had to dig that out.

Kakashi bent and pulled the kunai free, tossing it aside. When he rose it was clear from his sober expression that this farce was over. Sasuke rose as well.

"Are you entirely self-taught?" Kakashi asked, frowning at him.

"Of course not," Sasuke scoffed. He knew what he meant, though. He hadn't been trained properly, not like Itachi had. The clan hadn't expected him to need that sort of training. His jounin instructor had taught him a few advanced jutsus, or tried to anyway, since he hadn't been able pick up any of his wind-based techniques at all. He had sparred with him originally, helping him to round out his taijutsu and build his proficiency with chakra wire, but as soon as it became apparent that Sasuke could easily beat him in a fight, that training had stopped. "I was taught the skills required to accomplish my missions. Everything else, I picked up from shinobi I encountered during those missions."

"And you haven't done any missions since acquiring the sharingan. Is that why you didn't use it?"

Sasuke stared blankly at him. Was he kidding? "I didn't use the sharingan because I didn't need to. You just stood in one place. You weren't moving, let alone using chakra."

Kakashi's eye narrowed a little at that. "Your jutsus might have had more effect if you had used the sharingan."

"No," Sasuke said flatly. "They would have had more effect had I used more chakra. I didn't see any point in that."

Kakashi hummed softly, as if he wondered about that. He looked over his shoulder at the metal strewn ground. The senbon clones had vanished and the water had already dried up. A light breeze was spreading the bits of ash from the few dead leaves that had been burnt. Once the weapons had been retrieved there wouldn't be any sign of what had happened there. "Do you always use the minimum amount of effort required?" he asked, without looking around.

"Yes. Unless I have a reason to put forth more effort." Proving himself would have been reason enough. But Kakashi had invited him to pay him back. Refusing to give him what he wanted was far better payback in Sasuke's eyes. Besides, Kakashi had only asked him to prove that he had the skills required to accomplish the missions he had laid claim to. Few of those missions had required anything more than the skills he had displayed here. He had even thrown in a few extras like the fire and lightning, just in case Kakashi was one of those people who thought flashy techniques were required to kill a fellow shinobi. Most of the time it was just a matter of being in the right place and attacking when and how they least expected it. As an Anbu, Kakashi had to know that. If he wanted more out of him, he would have to give more. A little respect would be a nice place to start. But Sasuke doubted he would be getting that from anyone in this village no matter how long he was stuck here.

He passed Kakashi and began retrieving his weapons. That didn't take long. Kakashi found the senbon, but leaned away when he reached to take it from him.

"The first henge," Kakashi prompted, rolling the senbon between his thumb and index finger. "Was that to change the size?"

So he had seen through that. Sasuke dropped his arm and sat back on his heels. "Yes."

"To make it small enough that you could clone more of them with the kage bunshin jutsu without me seeing them from my side of the post. And the second henge? To turn them into a ball you could handle more easily?"

Sasuke didn't care for the man's tone, but he didn't let it show. "No. The second henge was on the post, to catch the ball I made with the third henge."

Kakashi shook his head, a bemused expression curving his eye. "Why...?"

"So you wouldn't see what I had done until I wanted you to." That should have been obvious. He had done it because Kakashi had wanted him to do everything openly and he hadn't felt like complying.

"No. I meant, why go to all of that trouble when you could have simply brought more senbon? You weren't very well equipped for someone who intended to train today."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Naruto must not have used senbon much, because there had only been a few in his closet. Sasuke had used the only one he had in his pack because he hadn't wanted Kakashi to know where the others were hidden. But that wasn't the point. Kakashi knew very well that he owned nothing. He had been there, watching from the trees, when his equipment was taken away from him. Which meant he had only asked to get a rise out of him. Did he really get that much satisfaction out of taunting him? Maybe it was a Konoha tradition and that was why Naruto was so good at it. Sasuke stood, folding his arms over his chest. "I did not intend to do anything beyond basic taijutsu today. I thought you knew that." If there had been Anbu watching before the Hokage arrived, Kakashi had probably been one of them.

"No," Kakashi said, blinking in seeming surprise. He stood smoothly and handed Sasuke the senbon, watching as he stowed it away. "The Hokage just asked me to keep you company until Naruto showed up." He slipped his hands into his pockets and sent a slow look around the clearing. "I really thought he would have gotten here sooner. I guess that toad decided to wait the full two hours after all."

Oddly enough, Sasuke believed him. It was those questions about the sharingan that convinced him. If Kakashi had arrived with or after the Hokage, then he wouldn't have seen him cast that genjutsu. That was a shame. He really wanted to know how those men could have been promoted to jounin. Maybe Konoha really was on the same level as Sand. Or, as he was beginning to suspect, the ranks really did mean nothing. According to their book, his first kill had been an A rank missing-nin. That rank hadn't helped him any. In the end he was just a man. A tiny dose of a poison he had no immunity against and he died the same as anyone.

Sasuke found himself looking at the forest, his gaze skirting the treetops. He wondered where this training area was located in relation to the other one. He couldn't see the village walls over the trees, some of which were enormous. He couldn't hear anything aside from a few birds and animals rustling around in the brush. The undergrowth was much thicker as well, with heavy vines and creepers and no visible paths. This was a much better area to train in than the one Naruto had picked out. If Kakashi had let him into those trees, he might have given him a real fight just for the experience.

"Where are we?" Sasuke asked, glancing at Kakashi.

"The forty-fourth training ground," Kakashi said, flashing a smile that curved his visible eye. "Also known as the forest of death. Part of Naruto's chunin exam was staged here. He has horrible memories about this place and hasn't been back since. He'll be horrified when he finds out I brought you here."

Which was precisely why he had done so. Sasuke shook his head. He didn't understand these people at all. Would he ever? "Why?" he asked. "What did he do to deserve this?"

Kakashi's expression sobered swiftly. "Naruto has a problem controlling his temper. He's made a lot of progress, but when he found out you had been attacked on your way here, he had a relapse. He nearly killed the man responsible. A man who was already in the hospital after having his chakra paths burnt by none other than Hyuuga Neji, someone known for his restraint. You're clearly a trigger for Naruto and anyone else eager to protect you on his behalf. The Hokage wants to curb that before it becomes a habit." He snorted softly and turned to eye the treeline. "Of course, his method is more likely to have the opposite effect, but I've never claimed to understand the way his mind works. If he thinks driving Naruto to the brink of insanity with worry for you will help him not overreact so much in the future, well...that's his prerogative."

Were they holding him partly responsible for that? He was no more to blame for Naruto's 'temper tantrums' than he was for Naruto's obsession. And as far as he was concerned, a little disfigurement was no more than that jounin deserved for attacking a helpless prisoner. He wouldn't argue the point though. This was probably another 'moral issue' that Konoha and his clan would never agree upon. He focused on the name instead. Hyuuga Neji. So that was the person Naruto had been talking about, a member of the clan with the questionable morals. Sasuke looked forward to meeting him again.

A sudden surge of chakra had Sasuke flinching and looking around wildly. A quick glance found that Kakashi hadn't so much as twitched. Sasuke flushed, quickly controlling himself. The chakra felt wrong, nearly as disturbing as the chakra of some of the Sound shinobi he had encountered, but it was too far away to be a threat. He had automatically activated the sharingan, which was more worrisome than anything. That was twice today that he had instinctively done that. He would have to make sure that didn't become a habit of his.

"That's my cue," Kakashi murmured. He waved a hand at Sasuke. "I'm going to leave you here now."

"What?" Sasuke blurted. He didn't even know what direction the village lay in.

Kakashi jerked his head in the direction of that fluctuating chakra. "Naruto. This wasn't my idea, so I'm not going to be here when he finds you. If he doesn't run straight to his dad, then you can explain things to him." He lifted his hand to teleport away, but paused at the last second. "That forest is dangerous, by the way. Don't ever go in there alone. Just stay in this clearing until he gets here."

Sasuke's mouth dropped open, but the man was gone before he could speak. He was left standing alone in the training area, stunned. He looked around slowly, suddenly uncomfortable with the trees surrounding him on all sides. There were no Anbu watching now. He had no basis for that, but he was convinced of it anyway. He was alone, in an unknown place, and that chakra was Naruto's? It was certainly large enough to be, if Naruto hadn't just been boasting about his reserves. But the feel of it was unnerving. Was he tapping the demon's chakra? He had to be. Why would he be upset enough to...

He shook his head, unconsciously digging his fingers into his folded arms. He already knew why. Kakashi had been perfectly clear about that. He was the trigger. The toad had told Naruto that he had been taken to be 'interrogated' and Naruto knew exactly how he felt about the prospect of being tortured. But even if it were true, he wouldn't have suicided. Naruto should know that. Did Naruto really think he would hurt his clan that way? He already had the answer to that as well, though. Naruto wasn't thinking at all. The wildness of his chakra made that painfully obvious. And he was expected to deal with him? He wasn't about to wait around for that.

He rushed to the edge of the forest and leapt into the canopy. He wasn't running away. He was moving in the direction of that chakra. He was, however, completely ignoring Kakashi's advice. Or maybe it had been an order rather than a warning. Sasuke didn't care either way. The only orders he considered himself bound by were the Hokage's.

He didn't make it far before he was forced to slow, and then to activate the sharingan. There were traps in here, most of them old, but many unsprung and difficult to spot with the naked eye. With the sharingan he could see the chakra traces and avoid them altogether. At least he didn't have to worry about the branches snapping beneath him. Half of them were as thick as normal tree trunks. There were plenty of dangerous creatures to avoid, though. He was surprised by the number of snakes, considering the prejudice Naruto had implied this village had against the species. Some of the ones he spotted were large enough to do serious damage if controlled by genjutsu, and he narrowly avoided a few that were deadly enough to put his own venomous summons to shame. Then there were the toxic plants and insects. This forest was a treasure trove. If he didn't have an out of control 'lover' blazing his demonic chakra high enough to give him goosebumps, he would have liked to linger here.

That chakra abruptly disappeared. Sasuke halted on the branch he had landed on and rose to send a sharp look behind him. If Naruto teleported to that clearing and found it empty, how much worse would he get? He immediately realized that wouldn't be an issue. Naruto appeared directly in front of him and nearly pitched backward off the branch. Sasuke's hand snapped out, snagging Naruto's shirt and jerking him upright. That chakra was even more disturbing at close proximity. It was a thick reddish orange and hot against his hand, curling and clinging as if it had more substance than it should. Naruto's eyes were red and slitted just like a snake's, which was horribly ironic as far as Sasuke was concerned. The marks on his face were thicker and Sasuke could swear he had fangs. The worst part was the look on his face, the way his eyes widened when he finally saw him through his panic and anger. Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. Was he going to cry? No. He embraced him instead. That was worse, even though he should have expected it. He closed his eyes tight and forced himself not to push away. It felt as if that chakra was creeping all over him.

"Sasuke," Naruto groaned, squeezing him tighter. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know or I never would have left you alone!"

"Calm down," Sasuke said quickly. He didn't like the edge of panic he could hear in his voice. It was that chakra. He didn't know how long he could take being in contact with it. It felt so...weird. It was too disturbing. "Nothing happened. They didn't torture me. They didn't even interrogate me. Ibiki asked me a few questions and that was all. Your father made it sound like I was going to be tortured so your summon would tell you that. It was just a lie to punish you for what you did to that man who attacked me. Naruto," he hissed, shivering despite himself. "Control your chakra or let go of me. I mean it."

He was released so suddenly he once again had to yank Naruto forward to keep him from falling off the limb. As soon as Naruto caught himself with his chakra, Sasuke let go of his shirt and moved a few feet down the branch. The distance didn't help until Naruto's chakra began to simmer down. He could see the effort that took as clearly as he could see the wince on his face.

"Sorry, Sasuke," Naruto grimaced. "That was a hell of a way to introduce you to Kyuubi's chakra, huh? I was just - I panicked. When Gamakichi told me, I didn't believe it. I was sure it had to be a trick. And then I went to the T&I building and they said you really had come in and they never saw you leave and I just lost it. I couldn't find you there and they said you came in with Kakashi-sensei! I couldn't believe that, either. By the time I remembered I could teleport directly to you, I just-" He took a step toward Sasuke and halted when he saw him stiffen. He closed his eyes, his brows drawn in furious concentration, and the last of that fiery chakra finally ebbed away.

Blue eyes opened back up, and Sasuke walked to him with a sigh, letting himself be hugged. He supposed he would get used to that eventually. "How did you come directly to me?"

"The forehead protector," Naruto murmured into his neck. "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you about that yet, but at this point I don't even care. My dad wants to put a seal on you so I can come directly to you even when you're not wearing it. He had one on my mom so he could get to her no matter where she was. I know I was supposed to wait a while before asking you about that, but if he's the one who-" He pulled back abruptly, his eyes frantically searching Sasuke's. "My dad did this? He really was the one who came and got you?"

"Yes. Because of what you did to the jounin who attacked me on my way here."

The disbelief and hurt on Naruto's face was rapidly replaced by outrage. "But he deserved it! He could have blinded you - he could have killed you! He totally deserved it!"

"And the Hokage thinks you deserved this," Sasuke shrugged. "For some reason, he thinks this will help you learn to control your temper."

Naruto grimaced, "Well, he shouldn't have involved you in it."

"I agree," Sasuke said bluntly. "If he's going to blame me when your temper gets the best of you, then you had better learn to control it quickly. And, for the record, I also think that man deserved it. But as we've already discovered, I don't adhere to the same moral guideline that Konoha does. You do. Act like it."

"You're going to be a good influence on me," Naruto snorted. "I can already tell."

Sasuke rolled his eyes when he was abruptly hugged again. "What kind of seal is your father wanting to place on me?"

"Don't worry, it doesn't actually seal anything. It's not that different from what we use when we do normal teleportations. It just marks the destination so you can go there any time. What makes it so useful is that it works on people and over long distances. It takes a lot of chakra, though. I have to use bunshin to pull it off right now, but I'll get better with practice. And it's entirely up to you, so don't think he's going to force you into it."

So without a seal on his body, all he had to do was take the forehead protector off and Naruto wouldn't be able to come directly to him. Sasuke understood why the Hokage hadn't wanted Naruto to tell him about it yet. He ran a light hand over Naruto's back. "Thank you for telling me."

"I hate the secrets," Naruto admitted. He rubbed his cheek against Sasuke's neck, pulling him closer. "I really do."

"Some are necessary."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. Then he stiffened, his hands digging into Sasuke's back. "Sasuke...? Where are we...?"

Had he only just noticed their surroundings? Sasuke sniffed. "The forty-fourth training ground."

Naruto pulled away, giving him a baffled look. "The what?"

"Forest of death?" Sasuke tried. The effect this had on Naruto was dramatic. He recoiled, his upper lip curled, and Sasuke could see the whites of his eyes as he looked around frantically. What could have happened in this forest to make him react like that?

For a moment Naruto sputtered, then he locked his horrified attention on Sasuke. "What the hell are you doing in here? How did you even get here?"

"Kakashi brought me here," Sasuke informed him. "As soon as he felt your chakra spiking, he left me here. Alone." He decided not to mention that Kakashi had actually left him in a clearing and had warned him to stay there.

Naruto erupted. "He what? I'll kill him!"

Sasuke gave him a hard shove before the impending chakra surge he felt could become visible. After a startled sideways hop and some pinwheeling of his arms, Naruto regained his balance and rounded on him. Sasuke glared back. "Don't you dare. I don't want to go through this again."

"I didn't mean that literally," Naruto scowled, rubbing his arm. "Kakashi-sensei was one of my teachers. Even if I wanted to break his face, I'd never do it. I haven't even seen it yet. But you can bet I'll make him pay. He knows how much I hate this place!"

"Why do you hate it so much? This would be an excellent place to train." And to stock up on things that were notably missing from Naruto's closet.

Naruto squinted at him in disbelief, and then recoiled to point a finger at him. "You're like Anko!" he accused, sounding horrified.

"Who is that?"

"Someone who likes snakes and the forest of death," Naruto winced. "And Ibiki, which just proves how twisted she is."

"Ibiki impressed me," Sasuke admitted.

"Don't say things like that," Naruto hissed, flashing a wary look around them. "You never know what in here might hear you. Come on, we're getting the hell out of here right now."

"I wouldn't mind staying for a while..."

Naruto squinted at him again and then threw an arm around his shoulders. "Nice try, but no messing with my head in the forest of death. We're getting out. Now."

Sasuke smirked as Naruto teleported them away. He now had two people in this village he was looking forward to meeting.

.-.  
TBC


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as they arrived in the apartment, Sasuke once again found himself abandoned. He didn't mind this time. In fact, he was relieved that Naruto felt it safe to leave him here on his own after what had happened the last time he let him out of his sight. Naruto didn't even warn him to stay put, merely promising to be back as soon as he finished 'having it out' with his father. Once he was gone, Sasuke once again raided his closet. He should have had Naruto let him into the bedroom before he left. As disorganized as Naruto clearly was, he knew better than to store oil in with the rest of the jumbled equipment. Sasuke took all of the cleaning tools he could find and set himself up at the low table in the livingroom. He took his time wiping down the weapons he had used, setting the dullest ones aside to be sharpened later. Then he took stock of his newly acquired pieces.

Would they consider that theft here? He hadn't intentionally set out to collect the weapons he had found on the training ground. It just seemed a waste to leave them where they lay when he had been gathering his own, anyway. Kakashi certainly hadn't seemed to notice or care. There was no reason he should. Although Sasuke had only taken the least weather-worn pieces, even those had thin layers of rust from months if not years of neglect. Besides, the man had left three kunai of his own in that clearing. Unless he was intending to return later and retrieve them, which Sasuke doubted, he was just as careless as whoever else had been using the area. On second thought, that probably hadn't been carelessness. He still suspected Kakashi had meant him to do something with those weapons. Why else would he have discarded them? Perhaps that barb about his lack of equipment hadn't been meant to goad him, but to remark on the fact that he had walked away with more weapons than he had arrived with. In that case, the kunai he left behind might have been an attempt to arm him without openly doing so. Or Sasuke was simply overthinking the entire issue. He had a tendency to judge others by his own standards, which didn't seem to work with these...Konoha people. It didn't matter what Kakashi's intention had been, anyway. He hadn't touched the kunai he left behind. They could remain where they had fallen indefinitely for all he cared.

He rubbed away the worst of the rust and polished the metal as well as he could without oil. One of the shuriken still had chakra wire wrapped around it. He picked that off carefully, wondering whether it had been done by the user or his opponent. The wire was strung along all four points of the star, as if it had been caught in a web. But perhaps that had been a clumsy attempt to intensify whatever chakra had been coating the weapon. He would have to try that himself. He didn't have the dexterity to capture a weapon with chakra wire midflight yet, but if he were going to learn a shuriken would certainly be his first choice. The problem would be catching it, directing the chakra, redirecting the weapon's trajectory, and then snapping the wire short enough so it didn't get hung up on anything, all within a few seconds. Even if he could get the moves down fast enough, it would take a lot of practice to do it instinctively. The more deliberate a move, the easier it was to see through.

He had moved on to sharpening by the time Naruto trudged into the apartment. He flicked a sideways glance at him, took in his downtrodden appearance, and turned his attention back to his own work. Naruto had left in a blaze of determination and indignation. He wondered how quickly the Hokage had doused that, and how he had managed it. His own father would have done it with a simple look, a cold one that dismissed his entire existence. It was difficult to imagine anyone who looked so much like Naruto being able to do that.

Naruto sank down on the couch across from him, not looking any higher than the hands lying limp in his lap. "He guilt-tripped me..."

"He made you feel guilty?" Sasuke asked, meeting his cloudy gaze. "For attacking that man?"

"For not feeling guilty that I attacked him," Naruto huffed. "I don't feel bad about that, but I know I should so I feel bad that I don't. Normally I would feel bad about endangering a comrade for my own personal reasons, but in this case I don't. I just can't. And now I feel awful about that..." His confusion and dissatisfaction was readily apparent.

"I understand," Sasuke offered. He had suffered a similar confliction where Itachi was concerned. Even his loyalty to the clan was never as strong as he knew it should be, and desperately wanting it to be didn't make it so. Naruto might want to adhere to the village's morals, his father's morals, but this was a case where he didn't. All he could do was act as if he did, and regret the fact that he didn't. Sasuke understood that all too well. He set aside the shuriken and started on one of Naruto's kunai. "I take it that his plan worked, then? Will you be less likely to overreact in the future?"

Naruto let out a sharp breath, more of an exasperated huff than a laugh. "I wish. I feel the same way about what he did as he feels about what I did. Totally uncalled for and excessive. He's trying to give me a taste of my own medicine, but unless I can feel bad about what I did, it's not going to help. I'm going to try talking to that guy's family tomorrow. He has a civilian girlfriend, too. Maybe they can make me feel bad about it, or at least feel sorry for them. He's not defending himself, but he's not apologizing for it either. If he won't apologize to you, I sure as hell won't apologize to him." He was quiet for a long while, and then admitted, "I'll probably apologize to his girlfriend, though. She's the one who'll be stuck dealing with him while he's limited to C rank missions. That's the only punishment my dad is giving him for what he did. Can you believe that? Talk about setting a bad example for the rest of the village..."

Sasuke couldn't help feeling disturbed by that. He set the kunai down with a sharp click. "Would he have gotten the same punishment if you hadn't attacked him?" Considering what Naruto had done, the man had probably been punished enough already. There was no point giving him an extended punishment if he were already going to be bearing the scars of this one for the rest of his life. On the other hand, if demoting him to C rank missions was the worst he would have gotten for attacking a prisoner, then that didn't say much for discipline in this village. The man had blatantly ignored his orders and endangered his mission. A shinobi like that was all but useless.

"He probably would have gotten off even more lightly," Naruto muttered. "I'm sure he would have apologized if I hadn't done anything, and he would have spent an hour or two with Ibiki to make sure he wasn't at risk of doing anything like that again. He might have ended up on C rank missions for a while, but only if Ibiki couldn't figure out why he did it. Now he's just clammed up altogether. Since I interfered, it's being handled like a personal dispute. There's no excuse for what I did, so he doesn't have to excuse what he did. That would be the end of it, except the fact that he ignored the mission orders means he can't be trusted on anything above C rank until he proves himself. I have no idea how or even if he'll manage that. He's going to walk away from this as the victim. If he decides to stop doing missions entirely, it'll be all my fault. And I don't care. That's the worst of it. Instead of feeling bad about that, I'm hoping he does quit. So much for valuing every member of the village equally..."

The politics of the situation were much more complicated than he had realized. Sasuke dropped his eyes and went back to sharpening the kunai. He didn't have anything to offer Naruto. Had this been a clan issue, the man would have been expelled or sent on a suicide mission. The idea of an apology making any difference in how the matter was dealt with was simply ludicrous. He was glad to know someone like Ibiki would have been involved, though. Whether the man claimed or even showed remorse, it didn't matter. What mattered was his mental state, whether or not he was prone to such outbursts, and whether the situation had been an exception unlikely to be repeated, or a sign of some underlying issue that would be reflected in everything the man did as shinobi. Was Ibiki the ultimate authority in determining those things? If so, he would have seen the problem long before the man became a jounin. His lack of control had been obvious to Sasuke at first sight. How did they screen their shinobi, then? How long could someone like that remain in the ranks before being weeded out? Perhaps that was why they had enough active shinobi not to need Naruto's skills. Their standards were so low that even someone clearly unstable could be promoted.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke."

His eyes snapped up. "For what?"

"For this whole mess. You're the victim here. You came to Konoha in peace and one of our people attacked you before you even got here. If anyone should be getting sympathy out of this, it's you. It's my fault for blowing up and twisting everything around."

"But you still don't feel guilty for what you did," Sasuke pointed out calmly. "Don't force yourself to feel guilty on my behalf. I don't need anyone's sympathy, and I certainly don't want to be viewed as a victim. The only problem I have with this is that you're keeping that man as an active shinobi. The next time he snaps it may be against someone in a position to retaliate against the entire village." He lifted the kunai high enough to catch Naruto's eye. "It only takes one wet tool to rust the entire pack."

Naruto grinned and slid off the couch to sit on the floor across from him. "That sounds like something Iruka-sensei would say. He was my genin teacher." He took the kunai and one of the files, and began sharpening it. "Don't worry," he said, when Sasuke resumed his work with another of the kunai. "Unless the guy agrees to talk to Ibiki, they'll be keeping an eye on him. If there's even a small chance he did it because he has a grudge against Uchiha in general, then he won't be allowed anywhere near you. My dad believes strongly in giving people second chances, but he's not careless about it."

There was no point debating that. He didn't bother to ask why the man might have a grudge against his clan, either. Whether that was related to Itachi's recent actions, or the reason the clan had left in the first place, he knew Naruto wouldn't talk about it. "Is this incident closed now? Or will you be receiving official discipline for your part in it?"

"It's closed," Naruto admitted, not sounding too happy about that. "As for discipline, I can look forward to that as soon as I go back outside. Not many people will talk about what I did in the hospital, but they're already gossiping about my little...explosion earlier. It could be worse," he said quickly, trying shrug it off. "I was in the T&I building when my chakra got out of control, so a lot of it was muffled. And I didn't cause any damage at all. I wanted to tear through some of the seals to make sure you weren't being contained somewhere, but I didn't do it. If I'm lucky, most people will just assume I was training. Kakashi-sensei was seen going into that building, after all. It might even come in handy that I went straight from there to the forest of death. Anyone who could feel my chakra from that far away would know where it was coming from. So aside from some ribbing from shinobi and curious prodding from the civilians, I'll get off pretty lightly. My friends will be worried, but I can tell them the truth."

He was reminded of the way Kakashi hadn't so much as twitched at the sudden explosion of Naruto's chakra. What sort of training did the two of them do together for the man to be that used to the feel of it? He would have to overcome his own uneasiness toward it. He certainly didn't want to be the only one in this village flinching any time Naruto tapped into his demon's chakra. He wondered again what made Naruto so different from Gaara. He would have to find someone else to ask about that. Just mentioning that Gaara had a demon had been enough to put Naruto on the defensive.

He set down the kunai he had been working on, and noted that Naruto was brushing off the last one. He caught his eye. "Let me into the bedroom. I need oil for these."

Naruto immediately jumped up, apologizing and being so frantic that it was obvious he expected Sasuke to be angry with him. Sasuke dismissed the entire spiel, though he didn't try very hard to convince Naruto that he honestly wasn't upset. This morning had already taught him that once Naruto made up his mind about something he might as well keep his mouth shut and let him believe what he liked. Besides, if Naruto was that worried about him being angry, then he would be more likely to give him whatever he wanted in hopes of soothing that imagined resentment. Sasuke waited until they had settled at the table once more, Naruto still squirming worriedly. He handed him one of the rags, watched him polish the kunai as if his entire future as a shinobi depended upon it, and pushed.

"Tell me about the forest of death," Sasuke prompted. "What happened to you there?"

Naruto tensed up, everything in his body language screaming discomfort and reluctance. But he didn't hesitate long before muttering, "My chunin exam." He finished polishing the kunai in front of him, clearly hoping that would be the end of that discussion. Sasuke disappointed him by handing him another weapon as soon as he was done, his eyebrows raised expectantly. Naruto's head dropped, and a little resentment crept into his muttering tone. "It was the second test, the survival test. No interference, no rules, just all the candidates dumped in that forest for five days. We were all on three man teams, each team given one of two scrolls and expected to steal the other scroll before the time limit. It should have been easy. I had two medics on my team, one of them trained by Tsunade herself. She's an insanely skilled medic," he boasted, latching onto that topic quickly and catching Sasuke's eye. "She's one of the legendary Sannin, you know."

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted. "Is sannin a level, like Jounin or Kage?"

"You don't know? I thought everyone knew!" For a moment, Naruto's tone bordered on condescending, but he reigned it in quickly. He was still eager to get back in Sasuke's good graces, stubbornly unwilling to accept that he had never fallen out of them to begin with. "Maybe it's because you never had anything to do with Konoha. That's understandable. But the Sannin were legendary. They started as a three man genin team, taught by the third Hokage. Tsunade was one of them, and Jiraiya - he was my dad's genin teacher. He's the one we get our toad summoning from. Wait till you see me summon Gamabunta. He's huge, and he has a major attitude problem. Oh! He's also the reason I call Jiraiya ero-sennin, because he's a pervy old toad sage, you know? No, you wouldn't know yet, but take my word for it, he totally is. He peeps in the women's baths, all the time! I mean, sure I did some of that back when I was learning my sexy jutsu, but this guy does it as a matter of course. He calls it research for those books of his. Kakashi-sensei reads those, by the way. If you ever want a quick way to get back at him, just wait till a new book comes out and spoil the ending. He hates that!"

Sasuke redirected Naruto's enthusiasm back toward things he was actually interested in knowing. "Sannin means three. Who was the other one?" That did it. He predicted Naruto's answer just from the face he made.

"Orochimaru," Naruto sighed. "I guess two out of three isn't bad, though, right? He left Konoha a long time ago. No one really knows why, though my dad thinks the Third Hokage might have known the reason. If he did, he took it with him when he died. Orochimaru is one of the strongest people our village trained, and now he's one of our worst enemies."

"And your third team member during the exam was working for him?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow when Naruto glowered at him. Had he really thought he wouldn't bring the discussion back to the forest? He fully intended to go back there, and it would be much easier if he knew the reason Naruto was so dead set against the place. "You said your third member turned out to be an assassin for Sound."

"Yeah," Naruto muttered, once more sounding gloomy and resentful. "How is that for irony? Tsunade trained Sakura, Jiraiya trained me, and Orochimaru trained Kabuto. We couldn't have known that, but in retrospect it's almost too obvious. He was training to be a medic nin. We picked him for the team because Sakura had worked with him at the hospital, and he had taken the exam a lot of times already but had never been on a team strong enough to pass." He snorted in contempt. "That's what he said, anyway. He was probably just taking the test to get information on the candidates, information he could pass on to Orochimaru. There's no telling how long he was spying for him."

"When did this exam take place?" Sasuke demanded sharply. He had met someone by that name. He had even taken a few orders from him, since the man had been acting as a Sound shinobi at the time. Had Sound been using the clan against Konoha without their knowledge? Or had they known all too well? He had answered Ibiki's questions freely because he had assumed none of his missions except the last one had directly concerned Konoha. That was a very foolish assumption, he realized.

"It was just a few months before we met," Naruto said. "I told you, I rushed right into Anbu as soon as I could after that mess. If they were willing to reveal a spy they'd had in the village for years, just to take a shot at me, then there was no point going through the usual public exams."

If it were the same man, then Sasuke had definitely taken his first order from him while he was still masquerading as a Konoha shinobi. And he had seen him, alive and well, immediately after that last mission. That meant they hadn't been able to capture him after he failed his assassination attempt on Naruto. Would his dealings with him be held against the clan? Just because he hadn't known, didn't mean his father hadn't.

"That wasn't the worst part of it, though," Naruto admitted quietly. "I didn't know Kabuto very well, so the betrayal didn't hit me that hard."

He was lying through his teeth. Sasuke could hear it in his voice. Naruto might not have known the man well, but he had considered him a teammate at least for the duration of the exam. The betrayal had struck hard and deep. But if Naruto didn't want to admit that, Sasuke wouldn't pry. "What was the worst part?"

"Gaara." Naruto sighed and set down the kunai and rag so he could fold his arms over his chest. He leaned back against the couch, his gaze shifting somewhere over Sasuke's head. "It wasn't his fault. We were at peace with Sand during the exam, so he didn't have anything to do with the attack."

Sasuke seriously wondered about that. His jounin instructor had claimed the same thing, that Sand and Konoha had been allies for the last five years. But he had been taking orders from Sound during that last year, orders Sand never had an issue with. He would sooner believe that Sand had a hand in whatever Sound had intended against Konoha, and had only pulled back and denied it when their plans fell through. He wondered if Naruto knew that, and if he were merely absolving Gaara out of respect for the current alliance and whatever personal loyalty he held for the boy.

"Sound wasn't allowed to participate in the exam," Naruto explained. "They made an overture, but we knew better than to trust them. When Kabuto made his move, Orochimaru was already in the forest waiting. We still don't know whether he snuck in beforehand or disguised himself as one of the genin candidates. Too many of them were unaccounted for afterward, especially among the Rain group."

Was that why Ibiki had been so interested in the communications he had taken from that village? "Did Orochimaru attack you directly? A Kage interfering in a public exam?"

"He's not a recognized Kage," Naruto said sharply. "Don't ever believe that. Mist might consider him one, but the five nations don't and never will."

"Understood."

Naruto winced at his blank tone. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just really hate him. Refusing to acknowledge him as an official Kage is the worst anyone can really do to him, strike at his pride and limit his sway in official politics. I don't know anything about how he runs his village, or whether Sound is really all that different from any other hidden village. I just hate what he is, what he does. And I hate the fact that he was in our village without us even knowing about it."

Sasuke could completely understand that. He couldn't fathom how they had let a Kage level ninja slip in, especially if he had been disguised as a genin. Then again, he knew nothing about the sort of jutsus used by Kage level shinobi, so he was no one to judge. "Did he attack you directly?" he asked again. It was as close as he could come to asking just how strong Naruto really was. If he had survived an attack by a Kage, even an officially unrecognized one, then it was no wonder he was preparing to be one himself.

"Sort of," Naruto winced. "He set the forest on me. There are giant snakes in there." He nodded quickly, in case Sasuke doubted him. "Giant ones! I'm talking summoning sized giants." His voice abruptly dropped to a mumble, "One of them ate me."

A snort broke out of Sasuke's nose, and he slapped a hand over his mouth. So much for the Kage level battle he had been imagining. He couldn't stop his shoulders from shaking as Naruto's face turned bright red.

"It's not funny!" Naruto cringed. "It was all slimy and acidic, and the smell! I swear, I'm traumatized for life! I can't even sit on Gamabunta's tongue now without remembering and freaking out. And you don't want to know what sort of therapy Ibiki and Tsunade tried to devise to help me get over that. Let's just say it involved slugs and slime in places it had no business being."

Sasuke laughed out loud. It was an undignified response, and quite rude considering how much trouble he had gone through to get over his own water phobia. But he suspected it was precisely the reaction Naruto had been hoping for. Sure enough, it only took a few seconds before Naruto cracked a smile of his own. Sasuke shook his head at him. "So it's not snakes in general that you have a real problem with, it's the slime in their bellies."

"It really isn't funny," Naruto insisted, though his twitching lips belied that. "I really did have nightmares, too."

"I'm not doubting that. But as I recall, snakes aren't the only creatures that swallow their prey whole. I hear toads do the same thing on occasion."

"I know, I know," sighed Naruto. "And thanks to my trauma, I may never be able to take advantage of that. Gamabunta's tongue might not be as flexible as a snake's, but it's a lot stronger. Only I can't stand to even touch it now. And I know, one of these days, my dad or Jiraiya is going to decide I have to be able to sit in his mouth and it will be right back to the slug therapy for me." He shuddered in revulsion, then came out of it with a slow frown. "Actually, I think I'm more freaked by the slugs now than I am by snakes. At least snakes are only slimy on the inside."

"What happened after you were swallowed?" Sasuke asked. He wanted to know more about Gaara's involvement, so he could determine if his guess about Sand had been correct. But if Naruto wanted to deny any alliance between Sand and Sound at that time, he couldn't risk implying otherwise. Naruto had mentioned Orochimaru attacking the village at some point, causing damage with Manda or similar sized summons. Had he gone on to do that after leaving Naruto incapacitated? Why had he even started with Naruto when he could have attacked the village directly? Perhaps Konoha was better prepared for outside attacks. That would explain how complacent the villagers he had seen appeared to be. An attack from within might have done more damage, and left them less able to react quickly.

Naruto sighed again, losing the last bit of humor from his eyes. "That's when Gaara got caught up in it. My dad had been trying to get us together for years, but Sand kept refusing. The exam was our first chance to meet and, well, he had problems of his own. When I busted my way out of the snake, he was right there, and we were still in the middle of the exam, you know? It was only natural for us to fight."

Officially, at least. Did Naruto believe that, or was he giving him the same story Sand had given Konoha?

"Unfortunately Gaara had gotten separated from his teammates, while Sakura had followed the snake that got me. She wasn't anywhere close to being a match for Gaara. If it had just been me and him, it might not have gotten out of control. But she was there, too, and he went after my weakness the way any shinobi would," he looked pointedly at Sasuke, as if hoping he wouldn't hold Gaara's actions against him. "That's when I really lost it, and he did, too. By the time we were done, Orochimaru had already done his own damage. I never even noticed."

"Did Orochimaru attack from within the village?" asked Sasuke. He didn't even know the girl Naruto was talking about. If she and Naruto had forgiven Gaara for whatever he had done, then it didn't matter what he thought about it. He was more interested in understanding what Sound, and possibly Sand, had been trying to achieve. "Was the attempted assassination meant to keep you too distracted to help the village?"

Naruto shook his head, grimacing a little. "Just the opposite. We think that Kabuto's attempt was meant to fail, just so I'd be caught off guard when Orochimaru's snake snapped me up and took me to Gaara. Orochimaru meant for us to fight and was just setting us up in case we didn't get pitted against each other during the final stage of the exam. We were tapping into our demons, so our fight was huge. We think Orochimaru only set his summons on the walls to keep my dad too busy to help me control Kyuubi. If Gaara and I hadn't reached an understanding, we could have destroyed the entire village ourselves."

"I see," said Sasuke. That was quite clever. It would have been better if Orochimaru hadn't needed to attack the village openly, but since Konoha had refused Sound's request for a truce for the duration of the exam, it wasn't surprising that Sound would wage a minor attack in retaliation. Some of the other villages might even call Sound's action justified, especially if Orochimaru hadn't done much damage directly. Sand's involvement would never have to be admitted since Gaara had merely been fighting a fellow participant in the exam. Even if that fight had spread beyond the confines of the forest and damaged the village, Sand could have blamed it on Naruto as easily as on Gaara. Both had demons, so neither could be held entirely responsible for the result of a clash between the two.

"That's all ancient history, though," Naruto said quickly. "Gaara and I are friends now. I don't see him much since I could never go to Sand, what with the Uchiha clan being right there. But now that we have a truce, I expect to be visiting him more often. We usually meet at the border of Konoha and then go off to train wherever we can find a quiet spot. My dad would be glad to have him here, but Gaara knows a lot of the villagers are still afraid of him. Are you afraid of him?"

Sasuke blinked in surprise. Naruto's expression was so wistfully hopeful that he was glad he didn't have to lie. "No. In fact, when I first learned about him, that there was someone our age that even adults feared, I wanted to fight him." He smirked when Naruto's eyes widened. "He would have swatted me like a fly, of course. But I was young. I had no concept of fear."

"Did you try? Did you talk to him? He said he'd only seen you from a distance, so I thought-"

"I never got close enough to speak to him," Sasuke admitted. He knew enough now to realize how fortunate he was that his ignorance hadn't gotten him killed. He had heard all about Gaara's attacks on Sand children their age and dismissed them out of hand. At the time, the Uchiha children his age had spoken of Gaara in the same frightened tones they had about Itachi, so he had assumed the fear came from ignorance and jealousy. He had never considered for a moment that there might be truth behind the rumors that the pale boy slaughtered anyone who came near simply because he could. "I did make an attempt, though. He used to sit on the edge of the highest buildings, easily seen from a distance. I got close enough to see the color of his eyes before Itachi caught me and took me home. Gaara might have seen Itachi, but I doubt he noticed me."

"What color were his eyes?" Naruto asked, with a strange smile.

"Somewhere between green and gray-blue. He had his back to the sun, so his face was shadowed." He had looked so small and unimpressive, dwarfed by the gourd at his back. For months afterward, he had assumed Itachi's anger and his father's disappointed censure had stemmed from the fact that he had left the clan compound without permission, rather than because he had been in any real danger. It wasn't until he learned that demons did exist, and Gaara really did have one, that he understood how stupid he had been.

"His eyes are green," Naruto informed him, that smile widening. "And he definitely noticed you. Part of me wishes you had been able to talk to him. He could have really used a friend. At the same time, just the thought of you going near him at that age scares the hell out of me." He gave a weak laugh, his smile faltering before widening suddenly. "We have got to get him out here, or go visit him. I can't wait to see his face when I tell him you almost challenged him to a fight when you were-" He blinked. "How old were you?"

"Five," Sasuke muttered, frowning when Naruto laughed. He could make light of his folly, but he didn't like hearing Naruto do so. "I didn't know any better." And that foolish attempt to prove himself outside the clan walls was likely the reason he was sent on his first mission less than a year later. He had shamed his father, but he had also drawn enough attention to himself for the clan to use him. That was worth the embarrassment he felt about it now.

"I'm not making fun of you," Naruto insisted. His grin was so wide that his eyes were glittering slits of mirth. "I'm just imagining it. You were so cute when you were little, and I bet Gaara was, too. We'll have to time it so you have a kid at the same time he does, that way they can grow up together. The sheer cuteness factor alone of a combo like that would kill anyone."

"Me?" Sasuke blurted. Naruto must have seen how alarmed he was, because he sobered rapidly.

"What?" Naruto blinked, looking confused. "What's wrong?"

"Your father mentioned children to me today," Sasuke said tightly. "I assumed he was referring to yours. Is he intending to breed me as well?"

"Breed you?" Naruto repeated with a grimace. "Of course not! You're not a dog."

"You just referred to me having a child."

Naruto's eyes widened, his expression both stunned and stricken. "But...I thought you wanted children. You said you would have married just to have children. Are you saying you don't want any? None at all?"

"No," Sasuke admitted, "I'm not saying that." He rose from the table, his hand cutting through the air when Naruto started to follow. "Give me a minute to think."

He shut himself in the bathroom and dropped to sit on the floor with his head in his hands. He had thought it was a joke. When he was in the cell, Naruto had made an absurd comment about them having a child together. He had naturally dismissed that as being impossible. After that he assumed any children 'they' had would be Naruto's alone. It had never occurred to him that Konoha might want to breed him as well. Why wouldn't they? He wasn't just an Uchiha, he was a sharingan holder. If the village really did want that bloodline back, breeding him would be a sure way to do so. Any children he and Naruto raised would be loyal to the village. That didn't necessarily mean they would be disloyal to the clan itself, but they certainly wouldn't be helping it any. Which was worse? To die without ever passing his blood on, or to risk creating children who might one day turn against the clan? He had expected to die childless because the clan wanted him to. The clan had made that choice for him. Was he loyal enough to abide by that decision? Even if he had a child, there was no guarantee it would ever produce the sharingan. But he or she would have Uchiha blood, carrying the potential to a new generation. With Uchiha numbers dwindling, it would be a horrible waste to pass up a chance to pass the bloodline on.

That was just an excuse, a way to justify giving in to his own desire. He wanted children. His heart had leapt at Naruto's comment because the thought of a child of his growing up alongside the child of someone like Gaara made him yearn to see it. He had felt a flash of pride for a child that didn't even exist. That was the epitome of foolishness. That sort of thinking would only lead him to be as disappointed in his child as his father had been in him. Did he really want to do that to a child? He would have done it for the clan because it was his responsibility to do so. But the clan wasn't forcing him to now. On the contrary, they were forbidding it. Was that the real reason he wanted it so badly? Just some traitorous desire to lash out at them? The clan had never wanted him. Even after he had forced them to need him, they had been happy to throw him away. He had more value to them dead than he ever had alive. Maybe that was why they hadn't forced Itachi to marry. They hadn't wanted him, either. He doubted anything would suit the elders better than to have his father's blood end with them.

Naruto didn't look up when he returned to the livingroom. It wasn't until he sat down across from him that he ventured a wary look at him. Naruto was wearing his heart on his sleeve, hope and fear all over his face. That was sad, because Sasuke knew his own expression was as blank as could be.

"I want children," Sasuke said flatly. "You or your father can choose the potential mothers, but I get final say. Regardless of where they're raised, they will be Uchiha. And they will be mine." He would see to it that they were raised as Uchiha. Not the broken, desperate clan he had grown up with, but the ideal he had worked so hard in hopes of protecting. If the rest of the clan refused to acknowledge his offspring, so be it. They would grow up knowing who they were and valuing themselves.

"Ours." Naruto's confidence returned in an instant, settling over him like a shroud. "They'll have your name, but I want a hand in raising them."

So that was what the Hokage had meant. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I doubt our parenting methods would be the same."

"So we'll compromise," Naruto nodded. "Remember, your father and brother were both raised and trained in Konoha. When people think of Uchiha, they think of them. But they were born here. So were you. Just because your kids grow up in Konoha doesn't mean they won't be Uchiha. With my influence they might be more rambunctious than normal Uchiha, but they'll still be Uchiha. And they'll still be yours. They'll just be mine as well."

Sasuke raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Would you want me to have a similar influence on your children?"

"Absolutely," Naruto grinned. "I'll do my part to keep yours from becoming stoic introverts, you keep mine from being obnoxious extroverts, and they'll come out somewhere in the middle and have the best of both worlds. It's perfect."

"That's more realistic than us trying to combine our genes through some sort of bizarre medical jutsu," Sasuke allowed.

"I still haven't given up on that! I'm going to bring that up with Baa-chan as soon as she's not so annoyed with me. If she can find a way to extract an egg while I'm in my sexy jutsu and keep it from dissolving long enough to fertilize it with your stuff and implant it into a surrogate mother, it should be possible. Of course, I'd have to teach you the sexy jutsu if we wanted to try it the other way around. But it's probably not good to have too many kids at the same age, so there's plenty of time for that."

"You're insane."

Naruto pouted at that. "It's not insane, it's creative."

"Has it occurred to you that I might not consider you worthy of mothering a child of mine?" The insulted expression on Naruto's face was priceless. Sasuke scoffed as he began gathering the weapons on the table. "I get final say in whose blood mixes with my own. Don't forget that."

"Are you saying I'm not good enough?" Naruto sputtered. "I've got killer genes! My mom was an Uzumaki, huge chakra reserves and stamina to boot, and my dad is one of the fastest ninja alive, with huge chakra reserves of his own! You should be so lucky as to mix your precious Uchiha blood with blood like mine!"

Sasuke hummed doubtfully, not bothering to look up. "I just don't think I'd want a child by someone afraid of a forest. There's no such thing as a cowardly Uchiha."

"Cowardly! You!"

Naruto dove over the table at him, in a mindless tackle that even a civilian could have avoided. Sasuke didn't even try to avoid it. He caught Naruto's weight and flipped him over, letting his own weight and a bit of chakra hold him there. He smirked down at the startled look on Naruto's face. "Afraid of a forest, afraid of snakes, afraid of slugs and slime in general. You're quite a fearful little thing, aren't you."

Incoherent sputtering was all that made it out of Naruto's gaping mouth.

He leaned down, letting more of his weight press into Naruto's stomach. "Would you like my help in conquering a few of those fears?"

Naruto's eyes were the size of saucers when he finally managed to blurt, "Are you coming onto me?"

"I'm offering an exchange," Sasuke explained. "You did invite me to take advantage of you any time I felt like it. You haven't changed your mind about that, have you?" Naruto shook his head so fast his hair wisped over the floor. Sasuke took that as a vehement no. "Would you like my help, then?"

"Help...?"

He sounded so lost that Sasuke almost felt sorry for him. "In conquering a few of your fears," he reminded him.

"Fears," Naruto repeated, frowning a little. "I'm not afraid of sex..."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, but considering the position Naruto found himself in, he couldn't blame him for jumping to that conclusion. "I'm talking about your fear of snakes and that forest where so many of them dwell."

Once again, Naruto's eyes grew huge. But this time his expression was more awestruck than stunned. "You'd have sex with me in the forest of death?"

Sasuke couldn't have possibly gotten off him any faster had Naruto suddenly caught fire. Within seconds he was standing and turning away with his hands crushed over his eyes. A twisted grin pulled at his mouth. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh or kick Naruto in that perverted head of his. Either would have been an appropriate and fully justified response. As it was, he didn't do either. He crossed to the couch and sat, waiting until Naruto finally lifted his head enough to look at him.

"Would you?" Naruto repeated eagerly. "Because that would not only help me get over my fears, it would make that forest my new favorite place in Konoha!"

Sasuke snorted. Naruto had no shame at all. "Would you really want to have sex outside, where people who know you could walk by at any moment?"

Naruto sat up, all but vibrating with excitement. "Hardly anyone goes there on a regular basis. And the forest is really dense. If we set up some traps and posted a few bunshin as sentries, I bet even the snakes would leave us alone."

Considering the entire point of his offer had been to help Naruto overcome his fear of snakes, perhaps he should suggest they have sex on one. Sasuke shook his head in exasperation, his mouth twitching in amusement. "You're serious, aren't you."

"Absolutely! Having sex with you in the woods is my favorite fantasy," Naruto said earnestly. "My first one! I used to dream about that all the time. If you throw in the white shorts, I'll be your slave for life!"

"You're shameless."

"And you're fearless," Naruto grinned. "So let's go back to the forest and see how much we can rub off on each other."

Sasuke folded his arms over his chest. He couldn't wipe the amusement from his face, but his tone let Naruto know he was serious. "I want to train there. Often. With or without your escort. You said this arrangement would give me freedom to move around so long as I stay within Konoha's walls. I don't want that forest to be an exception."

"It'll be my new favorite place," Naruto promised solemnly. "You have my word. I never go back on my word."

"You already gave me your word that I would have freedom within Konoha," Sasuke reminded him. "I shouldn't have to have sex with you in that forest in order to earn what you already promised." Naruto's face dropped like a stone. He waited until Naruto looked ready to wilt into full depression before admitting, "But I will. Since you want it so badly."

"Sasuke!"

He fended off the impending hug, grabbing Naruto's shoulder and turning him toward the bedroom. "Get me a brush, ink, a jar, and some empty scrolls so I can store things. I'll make us something to eat that we can take with us." He gave him a light push and watched as he hurried to do his bidding. Naruto was so ecstatic he all but bounced his way into the bedroom. Sasuke smirked as he entered the kitchen. Having an open invitation made taking advantage of him far too easy. At this rate he might even start to enjoy it.

.-.  
TBC


	8. Chapter 8

They walked to the training ground. Naruto said he wanted to walk so that no one could accuse him of hiding out of embarrassment. By the first block, Sasuke was sure there was another reason. People were staring, just as Naruto had predicted they would, but they weren't staring at Naruto. Word must have spread about him. He supposed his appearance with the Hokage earlier might have something to do with it. The civilian stares were more curious than hostile, and the uniformed shinobi weren't openly staring at all. He was burning to know exactly what they had been told about him and he finally accepted that Naruto wouldn't say unless he asked.

He ignored the stares, the little hushes, and the shinobi eyes that discretely flicked at him and away again. There was enough wary tension in the air to set him completely at ease. This he knew. He might as well have been walking home through the clan compound as following someone he barely knew through a strange village. The key difference was that he understood why the clan had followed his every move, while he knew nothing about these people. Was it public knowledge that Itachi had infiltrated the village? Had the clan been viewed as a threat even before that? Did they agree with their Kage or, like his own clan, did they believe one Uchiha was as good as another when it came to revenge? He considered which questions he could ask without edging into things Naruto was unwilling to talk about. For now there was really only one thing he needed to know.

"What have they been told about me?" he asked, in a muted voice that wouldn't carry. Naruto was quick to respond, and his surprise seemed genuine.

"The truth," Naruto said, with a little shrug. "You're here as proof of the truce. The Uchiha clan gave us their best as proof that they trust us, and we're keeping you as proof that we trust them."

Sasuke had never considered it an issue of trust. Goodwill, perhaps, a peaceful capitulation on the clan's part, but no more than that. Did the elders trust Konoha? He hoped they didn't. He knew Konoha would be stupid to trust them. It was just a truce, after all, not an alliance. It was a ceasefire when they had never been at war to begin with. Maybe that was enough to set some minds at ease, though. With an official truce there was at least the possibility of an alliance, and less chance of open conflict. And the truce hinged upon the loss of both him and Itachi, making the clan no threat at all. For now.

"That's all?" Sasuke prodded, giving him a pointed look.

Naruto's lips twitched, and he looked away quickly. "That's enough. Anyone with eyes can see you're on good terms with the current and future Hokages. They'll figure the rest out on their own."

Meaning guesses, wild speculation, and no public statements or confirmations. That was certainly better than the alternative.

The forty-fourth training ground was surrounded by a chain-link fence. Sasuke couldn't believe shinobi would use something so mundane and flimsy-looking to guard a potentially lethal area, much less that the simple wards applied to it could keep anyone but civilians out. He ignored Naruto's startled warning and reached out to grasp the metal. The wards did nothing more than transfer a gradually increasing level of pain. He let go and took hold in a different spot. The wards didn't register the individual, so the message began at the same low level each time one touched in a different place. As long as he didn't hesitate in one spot for too long, he could climb right over the fence with only minimal discomfort.

He released his hold on the fence and turned to face Naruto. "Who is this supposed to keep out?"

Naruto was frowning as well, looking suspiciously from Sasuke to the fence and back again. "Anyone who shouldn't be in there. Genin and civilians, mostly," he said slowly. His face darkened into a scowl and he finally marched over to grab hold of the fence himself. He held on for a lot longer than Sasuke had. When he let go, he shook his hands out with a wide grin. "That doesn't hurt nearly as much as I remembered it doing. I only tried to climb this fence once," he explained. "I was going to climb over it really fast, but one of my sleeves got stuck and I couldn't get loose. By the time I managed to squirm out of my jacket, it hurt so much I really thought I was going to have a heart-attack and die. I never came back here again until the exam, and then they opened the gates so we didn't have to mess with the fence."

"Will we be going over or opening a gate?"

"A gate," Naruto said firmly. "There are traps set up for people who can get over but still aren't strong enough to be in the forest itself. At the gates it's a clear path for anyone who can unlock them. Well, clear of initial traps, anyway. The forest is used so much for tests and exams that there are tons of unsprung traps left over. They make a sweep to disarm the really nasty ones after each chunin exam, but they leave the rest."

Naruto led the way to the nearest gate, and Sasuke watched closely as he undid the seal. He didn't need to be warned not to touch this part of the fence. There were ominous wards and even a sign warning civilians away. He wondered if they regularly had trouble keeping civilians out of their training areas, or if the signs were in place because this training area was particularly dangerous. Naruto obviously thought it was. He shut the gate behind them, reactivating the seal, and then balked at entering the forest itself. Sasuke walked past him and stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "Show me something," he invited.

"What?"

"You were in this forest for days. Show me something you know. Where you hid, slept, foraged, one of the places where you fought, anything familiar to you."

"I'm not sure if I can," Naruto said reluctantly. "We didn't come in by this gate. We could circle around, but we'll run into traps if we stick too close to the perimeter. This training ground is huge and I've never been in half of it. If we got lost-"

"We will not," Sasuke said flatly, with more than a little contempt. "Don't expect me to believe you could possibly get lost within your own village. Even if we did manage to get too disoriented to backtrack, all you have to do is teleport directly back to your apartment." Preferably without him. If Naruto was already having second thoughts about joining him in the forest, he was unlikely to let him come here alone. He wasn't entirely unsympathetic about the bad memories Naruto had of this place. What he had no sympathy for was Naruto's reluctance to face those memories and get past them. A mocking smirk pulled at his lips. "Don't be afraid. I guarantee this won't be as traumatic as using slugs to confront your fear of slime. I'll protect you from the snakes."

"Very funny," Naruto scowled. He stalked over to point a finger in his face. "I'll be the one protecting you. You stick close to me. Don't wander off on your own to chase down snakes or whatever it is you're hoping to do in here. As far as Konoha is concerned, you're still a genin. You're not even supposed to be in here. I'm responsible for you. If you really want to train in here, then you'll have to show me you can handle yourself. That means no showing off and taking stupid risks. If you want to impress me, then take this seriously."

He sounded as if he were giving a lecture to a child. Sasuke couldn't even take it personally enough to be insulted. Show off? How Naruto could possibly think of him as someone liable to 'show off' was beyond him. Perhaps Naruto was simply repeating a lecture someone had given him at one point. He could certainly see Naruto being the sort to recklessly show off in order to impress someone. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You know nothing about me. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Exactly," Naruto snapped, folding his arms over his chest. "Until I do, I'm not taking any chances with you. This area is used for the chunin exam sometimes, but it was originally a training ground for jounin. It's called the forest of death for a reason. Shinobi die in here."

"Shinobi die everywhere," Sasuke pointed out calmly. He should have known some of Naruto's reluctance stemmed from his fear of risking him. "If you want me to follow your lead, I will. Provided you lead me somewhere. If you're going to drag your feet every step of the way, then let me lead and see for yourself if I should be here. This won't be the first time I've explored dangerous territory. Just because I'm not afraid doesn't mean I'm not taking it seriously. Unlike you, I do know what I'm capable of. I was in this forest alone earlier. Don't forget that."

"You were only alone for a few minutes, though. Right?" Naruto frowned, eyeing him suspiciously. "Don't read too much into that. Only one team got caught during the first hour in my exam, and they were taken out by another team. We should be the only ones in here, so as long as we steer clear of the traps it's just the forest itself we have to watch out for. I'll take you straight through to the center. There's a building there where we all had to go once we'd gotten the scrolls we needed. I should be able to find where Sakura and I came in from there. Just stay close. I'll keep an eye out for traps."

Sasuke followed him into the trees. For a few minutes he kept silent, not wanting to say anything that might make Naruto change his mind. Then Naruto came within a hand's-breadth of setting off an old but still active trap and his annoyance got the better of him. "Let me watch for traps. I have the eyes for it."

"If you're talking about that trap just now, I wasn't-" Naruto turned with an insulted frown, and stopped midsentence. His face screwed up into a grimace. "Right. Sharingan. I wasn't even thinking of that." He sighed and shook his head. "You can see chakra. The only traps you'd miss are the spring traps and you're probably fast enough to avoid one of those even if you did set it off. No wonder you weren't worried about coming back in here. You've got it nearly as good as a Hyuuga." His shoulders slumped and he shifted on the branch, looking awkward and embarrassed. "I guess I sounded pretty stupid worrying so much about bringing you in here. I wasn't considering the sharingan at all. You don't have to worry about the traps or snakes, so there really isn't much in here that could hurt you."

Naruto acknowledged that now, but Sasuke suspected he would be right back to worrying at the first sign of a threat. He knew well enough to take advantage of Naruto's confidence for as long as it lasted. "Does that mean I don't have to follow in your footsteps?"

"Yeah," Naruto smiled weakly. "Sorry about that. You can take point. Just don't stray too far off. And, for the record, I really did see that trap just now."

Sasuke didn't comment on that. Whether Naruto had seen it or not, he certainly hadn't avoided it as widely as he would have. Which meant he probably hadn't spotted it until the last minute. It was a relief to travel alongside him, darting ahead to take them around any chakra traces he spotted. They weren't all traps, of course. Some were recent, probably left by other shinobi passing through the area. It wasn't long before Naruto relaxed enough to start pointing things out. They passed a cluster of trees with oily foliage that Naruto insisted were infested with chakra-eating leeches. Having never heard of such a thing, Sasuke took his word for it and gave them a wide berth. In turn, Sasuke pointed out some of the poisonous plants he recognized. Naruto was curious enough to follow him out of the trees for a closer look.

"It causes temporary paralysis," Sasuke explained. He snapped a thick leafy bit of the fern and uncurled one of the dark leaves. "You can eat it safely so long as you don't have any cuts in your mouth. Crushed and coated on a weapon, all it takes is a nick and you could lose use of your limb. Dried into a powder and inhaled, it can stop your heart. It grows all over the place in the Mist islands, so it's a standard poison for them. It only takes a few weeks to build up an immunity to it, though. They mostly use it against Sand and Rock, since it doesn't grow anywhere near there."

"I've never used poisons," Naruto admitted. "I've been hit with a few, but they didn't work on me. My dad thinks Kyuubi's chakra works like a natural detox."

"Good," Sasuke said. "Then you won't be suspicious if I take some of this with me for my own use. I give you my word I will never use it on a Konoha shinobi." Not that he would, anyway. As plentiful as it was here, most of them should already have built up an immunity to it.

They traveled on until they reached a stream that Naruto recognized. Sasuke let him take the lead. He was surprised by how eager Naruto grew the further they went downstream. The forest fell back and the water was crystal clear. This was a prime spawning ground for the giant snakes Naruto professed such revulsion toward. The babies would live in this stream for years before growing large enough to migrate to the trees for bigger prey. Since they were cannibals few survived to reach their full size. Perhaps it was only the fully grown ones Naruto had an aversion toward. They weren't venomous, and even the midsized ones were too weak to kill a man unless one was quiet enough to wrap around his neck while he slept. Only the giants were a true threat.

Naruto stopped in a clearing where the stream widened into a pool of mostly still water. "I fished here," he grinned. "I can't believe how little this place has changed. We built our fire right over there."

"You swam in this pool?" Sasuke asked, eyeing some of the tell-tale ripples along the bank. He hadn't given Naruto enough credit. He had assumed his fear of snakes extended to all kinds and sizes.

"Sure. Do you want me to catch us some fish? I noticed you didn't bring anything but rice. I don't know about you, but that's not going to fill me up at all. If you want to start a fire, I'll catch us some fish and we can have lunch right here. I haven't eaten since this morning, so I'm starving."

"I have something else in mind," Sasuke admitted. He handed him the bag he had packed the rice in. "You can start a fire. See if you can find a flat stone to prepare my catch on." He waited until Naruto had moved away before crouching on the bank. He deactivated the sharingan, knowing he'd need it once they moved back into the trees. The snakes were so pale he could barely make them out against the rocks. He nipped a finger and squeezed a few drops of blood onto the water. The surface churned as the snakes closed in and quickly began attacking each other. He snatched up the biggest ones, and waved the others apart. There were plenty of fish here, so there was no sense in them feeding on one another. His hand was large enough to scare all but one of them away. He plucked it up to join the rest of his catch. They were very soft, more like eels than the thick scaled hunters they would be in a few years.

Naruto recoiled when he joined him by the fire. "Where did you get those?" His eyes bulged and he shot a horrified look at the stream. "No! Those were in the water? I swam in that water!"

So he hadn't known. Sasuke sighed as he stretched one of the snakes out on the rock Naruto had found for him and chopped its head off. "They couldn't possibly have hurt you. Their teeth are barely long enough to pierce skin, and they only go after things small enough to swallow whole." He flipped the snake over and cut off its lower half. Naruto yelped when one of the other snakes slithered in his direction. Sasuke quickly gathered them up so they twisted around his arms, biting ineffectually at his sleeves. He cut the first one down the stomach, using tip of the kunai to scrape the insides out. Then he held the rest of the body to Naruto. "Rinse it off. Just dribble or splash water on it, don't put it in the stream."

"Why?" Naruto demanded, cringing away from him. "What are you going to do with it? Wait! You don't expect me to eat that, do you? Are you crazy?"

"It'll taste just like fish," Sasuke said patiently. "You could eat it raw, if you wanted to. But I'll cook and prepare it so you won't even think of it as snake."

"If it tastes like fish, let's just eat fish! I don't want to eat snake." Naruto was pouting like a child. "How can you eat snake?" He squinted at him suspiciously. "Wouldn't that be like eating your own summons?"

"Is eating chicken like eating a bird summon?" Sasuke returned drolly. "Of course not. Just rinse it off and skewer it over the fire. You don't have to eat any if you don't want to."

"I don't," Naruto said flatly. He made a big show of his revulsion when he reluctantly took the snake over to the stream.

Sasuke ignored the exaggerated immaturity. He knew he would get him to take at least one bite by the time he was through. He prepped another of the snakes, making Naruto rinse it. Then he took the entrails and the remaining snakes back to the stream. As soon as they hit the water and tasted the blood they forgot all about him in their frenzy to out-eat one another. He returned to the fire and sat there watching as Naruto munched resentfully on some of the rice he had brought along. At least he wasn't catching fish to eat instead.

"Do you know what kind of snakes these are?" he asked, as he turned one of the sticks so the snake cooked evenly.

"Albinos?" Naruto muttered, making it clear he couldn't have cared less.

"No. They darken as they get older. These are the same species as the one that ate you." He flicked him a taunting look. "You could consider this payback."

Naruto snorted, his mouth twitching as he tried to remain grumpy and resentful. "The one that ate me was a lot bigger than these, I'll have you know."

"And probably not nearly as tasty," Sasuke agreed. He lifted one of the sticks and used his fingernail to peel back the skin. He tore off a piece of the meat, offering it to Naruto and then eating it himself when Naruto refused to take it. He chewed thoughtfully, and then shook his head. "I'd like it better raw. It just tastes like cooked fish." He tore off a smaller piece and held it out pointedly. "One bite. Consider it a first step. If you can eat what ate you, then at least you'll be even with it."

"I killed that snake," Naruto informed him. "Forget being even, I'm already way ahead." He took the little piece of meat and sniffed it warily. "I tore that snake up. I used the kage bunshin jutsu and blew it up from the inside out. It was the nastiest mess ever." He smiled for a moment, smug about that, then went back to staring at the meat. He took a deep breath, screwed his eyes shut, and popped it into his mouth. A split second later his expression dropped in what looked like total disappointment.

"Well?" Sasuke prodded.

"It tastes like fish," Naruto sighed, glowering at him. "Even the texture is sort of fishy. That sucks. Where's the challenge in that? I might as well be eating fish."

"Except you're not. You're eating snake." He handed him the stick and watched as he first nibbled, and then began to eat in earnest. By the time he got to the last few bites, he certainly seemed to be enjoying it. Sasuke was careful not to smile. "Can you eat the other one, too? Mix the meat in with the rice, that's why I brought it."

"Don't you want some?" Naruto asked.

"I'd rather catch another and have it raw. It tastes more like snake that way."

"Okay, but I'll have to try a piece. It can't be worse than sushi. I don't think eating snake really counts if it doesn't even taste like snake."

He had certainly changed his tune quickly. Sasuke went back to the stream where Naruto couldn't see his amusement. If Naruto wanted to know what real snake tasted like, he would have to feed him a venomous one sometime. Even a thorough cooking couldn't mask their peculiar flavor. He particularly liked the desert adders. They took longer to catch and prepare and had less meat on them compared to the constrictors, but the strong gamey flavor was worth the effort. He didn't bother to bait the water this time, merely watching for a ripple and reaching in to catch the source. The snake was a smaller one, which was just what he wanted. It had a blood-filled bruise on its side that he would have to cut around, but otherwise it was perfect. Hopefully Naruto wouldn't balk at its worm-like appearance. He'd chop it up before offering him any, just in case.

He was amused to find that he needn't have worried. Naruto was a ravenous eater. By the time he had finished his share of the rice, he was openly eyeing Sasuke's. The fact that Sasuke had mixed the chopped bits of his snake into it was not a deterrence. He ate half of his share and handed Naruto the rest. His lips twitched as he watched him gobble it up without hesitation.

"Now that was a little snakey," Naruto grinned, once he had finished. "It was a lot better than sushi, though. All it really needs is soy sauce, maybe some pickles or peppers for garnish."

"I didn't consider bringing garnish," Sasuke smirked. "This is the first time I've even had rice with snake meat. I've only ever eaten them during missions. They're everywhere, so I learned to catch them to supplement whatever rations I had on hand. Their versatility is one of the reasons I decided to summon snakes."

"I don't know," Naruto said slowly. "That makes it sounds like you decided to summon them because they're good eating. It's a little creepy."

Naruto was obviously trying to get a rise out of him, so his response wasn't as scathing as it might have been. "I do not eat my own summons. They are not good eating, which is the only reason they don't eat each other. They don't even consider themselves the same species as their domestic counterparts, so why should I? As for hunting snakes, so long as I give them a share of the take, they've never had a problem with it. In fact, they expect it. One of my deadliest summons won't do anything unless I promise him venomous snakes to eat afterward. He isn't big enough to swallow them whole, but that doesn't stop him from gorging on anything I can find for him. He especially likes to have the venom sacks drained into his mouth so he can taste it. That would kill a normal snake," he explained, letting his exasperation show. "Snake summons are something else entirely."

"Do you actually do that for him?" Naruto asked, grimacing with morbid fascination. "Drip it into his mouth?"

"It's the only way he'll work. Terra is spoiled, but he's also tiny for a full grown snake. He doesn't make much venom, so it's understandable that he won't use it without a hefty reward. If he used his venom without feeding afterward, he might starve before he can replenish his supply well enough to hunt for himself. At least he has an excuse. The constrictors are just as greedy without being nearly as useful. I rarely used them for anything."

"One of my toads like sweets," Naruto offered. "Candy, junk food, anything bad for a human he wants in huge doses. I have no idea how he can digest that stuff. He's the only summon I have to feed, though. With Gamakichi, I just have to keep him entertained and maybe stroke his ego now and then. He usually likes being summoned because it gives him something to do. Apparently it's extremely boring on the mountain where they live. Gamabunta is the boss there and he hates being summoned, considers it a huge inconvenience. I had to stick on his back the first time I summoned him just to keep him from smashing me. Now I think he only helps me out because I'm as stubborn as he is and he finds that amusing. He still views me as an upstart brat trying to order him around."

"I've never tried to summon a snake larger than myself," Sasuke admitted. "There may be some that don't expect to gorge after every summon, but I wouldn't count on it. I avoid the ones that grow huge as they age. If I can't feed them enough now, I won't stand a chance later. Terra is the oldest summon I have. His personality matches his age, but he'll never grow any bigger than he is so filling his gut isn't too difficult."

"Can I meet him?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. His summon was liable to strike at Naruto, if only to scare him. That wasn't likely to help him overcome his aversion to snakes. "Only if you want to spend the next few hours hunting venomous snakes for him to eat. I summoned him last year, just to maintain the contract, and he was very offended when all I had to offer him was fish and chicken meat." The little snake had gorged just the same, but he had threatened to bite him if he tried that again. Sasuke doubted he would since he had built up a tolerance for his venom and his teeth weren't large enough to do much damage by themselves. It was the principle of the matter. There was no point annoying one of his best summons just to satisfy Naruto's curiosity. "If I spot any of his preferred prey, I'll reconsider."

They dismantled the fire and then went back into the trees. Naruto's manner sobered the deeper they went. By the time he halted on a narrow limb, his expression was cold. He pointed downward. "That's the one that ate me."

The skull was the only thing left. Brush had grown up around and through the thick hide, which had largely been worn away by scavengers and the weather. Whatever mold had grown on the skull had given way to moss and ferns, so that from above it might be mistaken for a covered rock if not for the eye sockets. Sasuke jumped down to cling to the trunk of the tree across from it. This was as close as he could get without venturing into the thick brush that had grown up around the remains. There was no doubt this was the same species as the giants he had spotted earlier. He had only been able to make out portions of their hides when they had lain hidden below. This was his first chance for a closer look at one. The snout was short and thick, just one bulge followed by the eyes and then a solid flattened skull. It looked more like a large lizard skull than that of a snake. It was a strange shape for an ambush predator, but made perfect sense given its size. It had to unhinge its jaw enough to swallow snakes nearly as large as itself. There was nothing else in the forest large enough for it to feed on. A few shinobi wouldn't come anywhere near to satisfying a snake this size.

"Do you know how it was controlled?" Sasuke asked.

"Orochimaru."

He said it was if that explained everything. Sasuke forced down his annoyance. Naruto seemed to assume he knew as much about the leader of Sound as he did when in fact he knew next to nothing. He couldn't decide if he wanted to reveal his ignorance or let Naruto continue to make that assumption about him. He rejoined him on the limb, waiting in silence while Naruto continued to stare moodily down at the remains. What little light that filtered through the thick canopy would be gone soon. Then the snakes he had glimpsed earlier would leave their camouflaged hiding spots to begin the hunt along with whatever other nocturnal predators this forest housed. He watched Naruto closely. He didn't appear to be afraid of the memory, or angry for that matter. He simply looked morose.

"Have you considered destroying the skull?" asked Sasuke. "It could be five more years before the forest covers it completely."

"There's no point."

That didn't mean he wasn't tempted to do so. Sasuke shifted uneasily as Naruto continued his vigil. They were losing the light and this was not a good place to linger. It would be a thick path back to the stream, as dangerous in the trees as it was on the ground. They were enclosed here, with only a narrow strip of visibility through the trees to their right. Ahead was what looked like a hill, but could just as easily be the dark coils of another giant taking cover on the other side of the high brush and downed trees. Sasuke frowned, focusing his attention on a muddy green patch visible past a thick trunk across from them. Using the stationary trunk as his marker, he watched for any movement beyond it. Sure enough there was a faint rise and fall that might have been a breeze shuffling the leaves had they not been as motionless as the tree trunk. He should have known. There were only so many hiding spots even in a forest this large. With this territory up for grabs another had moved right in.

"Naruto," Sasuke said quietly. "Stay here. I'm going to secure the area." He was going to try, anyway. If Orochimaru had used a pact or ninjutsu to control these snakes then all he would do was annoy the creature. That would give Naruto a target to take his bitterness out on, though, which would still be better than waiting for the snake to come to them.

Naruto looked up and then around, noticing for the first time how dark it had gotten. He grabbed Sasuke's arm before he could move away. "We should get out of here. If we go that way there's a clearing not too far from here. It'll be a lot easier to secure."

Naruto tried to draw them to the right, but Sasuke pulled away. The only clean path was the worst one to take, in his opinion. "Can you kill one of these?" he asked, waving at the skull below them. "If one attacks us, will you be able to deal it serious damage?" He could probably do some damage himself with a large enough fire jutsu, but only if he had a straight shot into its open mouth.

"I'll blow its head off," Naruto growled, curling his free hand into a fist. "I have the perfect jutsu for it."

"Then stay here," Sasuke nodded. "I'm going to lure it over and up toward the canopy. If I can't stop it with genjutsu, kill it." Naruto clearly didn't like that idea at all. Sasuke cut off his protest with a pointed stare. "If I can control it, then we'll be safe for as long as we're in here. Nothing is going to come near a snake that big except another the same size, and if I can control one I can control another. It's either this or we make a run for it and risk stirring up other things nearly as dangerous. Which would you prefer?"

"I vote we go home," Naruto said immediately, with a droll glower. "I take it that's not an option?"

"Only if you want to go back knowing you ran away from a snake."

"That won't work," Naruto scoffed. "You just want to wrangle a giant snake, so you're trying to taunt me into going along with you. I'm not going to fall for that. I could have come back here and killed a dozen of these snakes if I wanted to. There's no point. I already killed the one that attacked me. Killing more of them won't change anything."

"Then you're not afraid of facing another one?" Sasuke asked lightly. The coils were tightening beyond the dark cover. If his guess was correct, its head had probably been pointing toward the clear right-hand path. It would have to turn to make a direct strike at them, assuming it didn't use its tail to knock down the tree they were in and drive them into the lane.

"Of course not," Naruto snapped. "I'm just not going to take a pointless risk by letting you run off to play with one of them." His attention darted toward the underbrush where the snake was preparing to attack. His preference was clearly to avoid a confrontation altogether.

"Fine. If you would rather make a run for it, lead the way. I'll be right behind you. If we're separated I'll meet you at the stream."

"If we're separated, you go straight back to the apartment," Naruto corrected him. "Now come on. And stay close."

Naruto took off down the clear path with Sasuke a pace behind. The snake immediately uncoiled, ducking out from under its cover and twining around the trees. Had they not been so close they could have outrun it. It tore a tree out from under them, sending them leaping in opposite directions. The head of the snake went after Naruto, who used a handful of bunshin to confuse it. Sasuke thought he spotted the real Naruto secreting himself in the canopy, but he couldn't be sure because the clones were just as quick to hide themselves. He leapt down on the snake a coil short of its head, and sent a quick burst of lightning chakra into its thick skin. It was just enough to get its attention without injuring it. He jumped backward as it whipped around, giving him his first clear view of its yellow eyes. He performed the strongest genjutsu he could without pushing himself, knowing that if it took more than that it wouldn't be worth it. He projected a simple command for obedience, calm, and loyalty. The snake jerked to a halt, its tongue flicking out once before its eyes grew shuttered and it collapsed in a heavy pile of loose coils. Sasuke winced at the impact it made, and then flushed when Naruto suddenly appeared beside him.

"What did you do, kill it?" Naruto asked, scowling suspiciously down at the snake.

"I think I put it to sleep," Sasuke muttered in disgust. He couldn't remember the last time he had overdone a jutsu so much. "I thought it was going to put up a lot more resistance than it did." He had only meant to calm it enough to halt its attack, not put it into a coma. He would never have guessed such a huge creature would have such a weak will. Maybe he wasn't the first person to control it this way. "Come on," he sighed. "It's harmless now. You might as well see what one of them feels like on the outside."

"Not me. I'll let the real body do that."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched when the Naruto he had been talking to vanished in a poof of smoke. He heard a few more poofs before the real Naruto dropped from the canopy on the other side of the downed snake. Sasuke jumped down to land on the coil beneath the snake's head. At least it was still breathing. There was blood on its snout where it had scraped the tree on its way down, but otherwise it looked all right. Naruto reluctantly joined him, and Sasuke encouraged him to touch the thickly scaled skin.

"It's cold."

"But not the least bit slimy," Sasuke pointed out. He walked over for a better look at the bloody scrape on its snout. He reached up to close the wound with healing chakra. The snake's tongue flicked out over his shoulder, and Naruto let out a sharp curse. "Relax," Sasuke said quietly, before Naruto could get it into his mind to attack. "It's just catching our scent. I don't want to leave it with an open wound that will draw in predators while it's vulnerable. If we're lucky the genjutsu will still be in effect when it wakes up."

"Meaning what? It won't attack us if we run into it again?"

"At least that. It may even follow us and defend whatever location we're in. Assuming it doesn't sleep for the rest of the night."

"I don't want it following us," Naruto said quickly. "I'm just fine with it sleeping for the rest of the night." He shot a wary look around them, then caught Sasuke's hand. "Come on. Let's get out of here before anything else shows up."

They hurried away. Although Sasuke was ready to try a weaker genjutsu on any other snakes they ran into, they reached the clearing Naruto had mentioned without spotting any. He didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved. If he could prove that snakes were no threat that would eliminate a good portion of Naruto's objections to him being here. On the other hand, another attack might be all it took for Naruto to call an end to this trip and rush them right back to his apartment. He needed to set Naruto at ease, to show him that this forest, like the fence surrounding it, wasn't as bad as he remembered it being. There were no enemy shinobi here now. The natural predators here were potentially lethal, but they had their own natural prey that didn't include humans. If they hadn't lingered in the snake's den for so long it might not have attacked them at all. They had invaded its territory, not the other way around.

Naruto produced four bunshin and sent them out to trap and guard the perimeter. He waved Sasuke toward the hollow of the enormous tree that took up one end of the clearing, as if he were a civilian he had been tasked to protect. Sasuke sent one insulted look at the proposed hiding spot and walked around it. He immediately spotted the bunshin Naruto had sent in this direction. As Sasuke had suspected, the bunshin wasn't bothering to set up traps. There were already plenty of active traps strung around the area. The bunshin was sitting in a tree, looking bored and annoyed. He straightened up when he spotted Sasuke, and winced when he saw Naruto closing in fast. Sasuke kept walking, ignoring them both.

"Where are you going?" Naruto demanded worriedly. "You promised not to wander off."

"No, you ordered me not to wander off. Nothing in our agreement forces me to follow your orders. I signed on as a partner, not a subordinate." Technically he wasn't wandering off at all, since Naruto was following right along with him. He was just looking around to get a feel for the area. Most of the unsprung traps were in the trees, designed exclusively for shinobi. The ones along the ground had long since been triggered by everything from branches to squirrels. The only evidence that the large predators had been bothered by the traps was a single gnawed off leg bone entangled with chakra wire. He paused by that, noting the long claws. He'd seen a lynx once not far from Rock, but nothing as big as this. Unlike humans, cats this large could very well make worthwhile prey for the giant snakes, provided they reproduced in high numbers. But the bone was old and he hadn't seen tracks or scratches anywhere in this forest that would imply a breeding population of any large four-legged animals.

"Are there big cats in this forest?" asked Sasuke.

"There used to be, but they kept jumping the fence to have their litters outside the training area. I doubt there are more than a few breeding pairs left. They resist training, so we can't have them loose in the village or roaming around fire country. Sasuke?" Naruto edged closer, his demeanor hesitant. "I wasn't trying to treat you like a subordinate."

"I know," Sasuke said coldly, "you were trying to treat me like a civilian, which is worse."

"It's just because we're here. If we were anywhere else I wouldn't worry so much, but you don't know this forest like I do."

"I know it has snakes, insects, plants, unsprung traps, and possibly a few very endangered big cats. Which of those do you expect me to have trouble with?" He turned to face him, his voice thick with contempt. "This isn't the battleground you're viewing it as. There are no people here. No enemies, no traitors, no would-be kages to turn the forest against you. It's just a training ground, one among at least forty-three others this village has. You may view coming here as a repeat of your chunin exam, but all I see is a rich forest to explore and train in. The only things holding me back are your memories of the past, which have nothing to do with me."

"I don't want history to repeat itself," Naruto said quietly, dropping his eyes.

"Then I'll make sure not to participate in any exams that take place here." That conned a weak smile from Naruto, but it wasn't good enough. He still looked as if he wanted nothing more than to rush him back to his apartment and keep him there forever. "Tell me, Naruto. Who did you hide in the hollow of that tree?"

Naruto looked away, folding his arms over his chest and hunching his shoulders. "Sakura-chan..."

"Because she was attacked by Gaara," Sasuke finished for him. "Which only happened," according to the official story, "because you were set up by Sound." With resignation, he stepped forward and put his arms around him. Naruto immediately turned into him, hugging him tightly. He was such a tactile person. Sasuke wondered if he had received too much open affection as a child or not enough. It was no wonder Naruto's father had used guilt to sway him. He seemed to run more on emotion than logic. That didn't stop Sasuke from trying to appeal to his sense of reason. "All of your problems were due to the people involved. They're not here now. I may have transformed into her earlier, but I'm not her."

"I know that," Naruto said, with a little laugh. "I really wasn't thinking of you as her. For one thing, she'd sooner punch me through a tree than hug me."

Sasuke envied her already. He pushed Naruto back, holding him at arm's length. "It's time to take this seriously. Are you ready for that?"

"What?" Naruto blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?'

"If you don't want history to repeat itself, then this time you'll have to catch me. The last time we were in the woods together at night, I got away." He took the bag Naruto had packed earlier and removed two of the blank scrolls. He handed it back and then stepped away, his hand rising to tap the forehead protector Naruto had given him. "No using this to teleport directly to me. I wasn't wearing this then, and I'm only keeping it on now out of respect for the Hokage's wishes. Don't force me to take it off or I won't be putting it back on."

"I don't know about this," Naruto blurted. "I know it might not be as dangerous as I remember without any enemy shinobi around, but we're still in-"

"A forest," Sasuke cut in. "At night. With," he performed a quick henge, arching an eyebrow, "white shorts."

Naruto blushed furiously and seemed to have trouble tearing his eyes away from the clothing in question. His eyes widened when he finally looked up. "That forehead protector looks great on you, like you just graduated from the Academy." He bit his lip and took a reluctant step back. "You were only supposed to change the outfit, though..."

Sasuke smirked in amusement. "I'm too tall to wear these shorts now. I wouldn't be comfortable in them. Besides, I already know this is the same henge you used with your bunshin. Don't pretend your 'favorite fantasy' involved me looking any different from this. If you catch me and still want me to change back, I will. It makes no difference to me either way. All I'm interested in is the experience I'll get from trying to evade you." He doubted he would get far, but that wasn't the point. His primary motivation was to get Naruto used to having him out of his sight in this forest, and to prove that he would be perfectly fine on his own here. "Feel free to use your bunshin. Just be aware that I won't hesitate to dispatch them. If I mistake you for one of them, it will be up to you to defend yourself. Go too easy on me and I'm liable to kill you by mistake."

Naruto scoffed, a grin taking over his face as he started to get excited by the prospect of a chase. "You haven't seen anything when it comes to my bunshin. I could dogpile you with so many of them you wouldn't even be able to move, let alone dispatch them. I'll keep the number down unless you really make it hard for me. Then all bets are off. I won't use any advanced ninjutsu, though. We were under orders not to use any signature moves during that mission, so you don't have to worry about me pulling something you've never seen. I probably shouldn't use the bunshin, either, but I don't have any nindogs to track with so it should even out. This is going to be great! You don't know how many times I dreamed about catching you at the end of that hunt."

"I'm not going to make it easy on you," Sasuke drawled. Not intentionally, anyway. "Don't forget, all I have to do is reach enemy territory you can't follow me into. You'll have to do more than catch me, you'll have to keep me from escaping again and reaching safety. For this, that's the fence."

Naruto frowned at that. "There are traps all along the fence."

"And I have the eyes to get right through them. You're the one liable to be slowed down if not injured by them. Keep that in mind if you decide to try an ambush. The closer I get to safety, the harder it will be for you. Just like last time." He gave Naruto a dark smirk that had him bristling and forgetting most of his reservations. He was far too easy to rile. "Dispel your clones. Having those four spread out from the start would give you an unfair advantage." He watched Naruto grumble and bring his hands together, and then he darted away.

It was more of a head start than he really needed. Having seen Kakashi use the body flicker he was sure now that Naruto had been the one slowing down his pursuers. Naruto might have improved his speed since then, but so had he. Just having his sharingan fully developed made a world of difference in that it was no longer a huge drain on his chakra simply to have it activated. Not to mention he had been wiped out by the time he had made his escape, running on sheer desperation in the face of inevitable death. Now he was fresh and running on pride, which for him was nearly as strong as his will to survive. He dropped from the canopy and darted into a corpse of low-hanging trees. Although the moon was up, none of that meager light filtered this deep into the underbrush. Unless Naruto's demon enhanced his eyesight he'd be hunting him blind so long as he traveled along the ground.

He took shelter under a half-fallen tree, just in case Naruto could see well enough to spot his shorts from above. He pulled out the scrolls and used a kunai to slit one of his palms, dripping blood onto each. There wasn't time to draw out the circles, so he used a sealing jutsu to arrange the liquid into the proper patterns. He healed the cut, not wanting to draw any insects or larger predators down on him. A handful of pulpy dirt sprinkled onto the circles was enough to dry them and mask the scent. He gently blew them off and stored them away. There was no sign of Naruto, but he had already seen how silently he traveled in the trees. So long as he stuck to the thicker branches there wouldn't be so much as a wisp of leaves to warn of his movements. He dug deeper into the dirt and bits of rotted wood until he found a rock large enough to transform into a kunai. He wasn't about to risk losing his own weapons in this forest the way so many others had. With his newly made kunai in hand, he eased out from under the tree, pressing close to it to minimize the movement one might see from above. His instincts told him something was nearby, though he couldn't be sure whether it was Naruto or an animal. He waited a long moment, listening hard to the faint rustling of leaves and small creatures moving in the forest around him. The fact that they hadn't fallen silent was no guarantee Naruto wasn't in the immediate vicinity. He braced himself for contact and broke cover in a rush.

He spotted a flicker of old chakra above and to his left, and a blaze of it swooping down on him from the right. He leapt into the attack, swiping widely at him with the makeshift kunai. Naruto countered with one of his own, leaving his right side open for Sasuke to snap out the scroll. The bunshin poofed out the moment the open scroll made contact with him. He had been taught the seal to transport corpses, and had learned that it worked just as well on animals. He didn't know if it would work on living humans but he had been sure it wouldn't work on a shadow clone. Now Naruto would know he had a way to distinguish bunshin from the real thing. Which meant the person who suddenly darted out at him from the left was another clone, who hadn't received the information passed by the one he had just dispatched. He turned to meet the attack only to have the clone poof out on its own before it could reach him. Naruto had received the information, meaning the next batch of clones he made would be a lot more careful. He needed to get far from this area before they could converge on him. He paused only long enough to take the explosive tag from the trap he had spotted. He could rig it for a simple but loud diversion.

He didn't see any sign of Naruto until he reached the snake. It was still asleep, but there was a trace of chakra low on the trunk by its tail that hadn't been there before. Naruto must have checked for him here, and not too long ago at that. He quickly ran down the tree, holding onto the trunk while he reached out to pass some chakra into the snake's snout. The tip of its tail twitched, proving it wasn't in a coma, just calm to the point of lethargy. He had really overdone it with his genjutsu. He stroked the cool snout, silently apologizing for using it this way. It was a predator and deserved better than to be used as a big harmless distraction. He opened the scroll and stored the snake away. Naruto would be watching for him to try and make direct contact with the scrolls, not for whatever might come out of them. Hopefully he wouldn't get carried away and attack the snake while it slept. Unless Naruto had the misfortune to be right below the snake when it came out, Sasuke would only be using it as a diversion, after all, not an attack. He considered using a combination of henge and illusion to replace the snake in case Naruto came back through here, but decided against it. Naruto might just assume it had woken and left on its own.

He followed Naruto's trail until he came to a freshly made trap. He hadn't expected that. The trap used no chakra, so if he hadn't been looking carefully he might have missed it. This was the biggest difference from last time, he realized. Not only did Naruto know his destination, he had started out much closer to it. Whether he tried to circle around for a shot at the fence further down or cut straight through the forest for the other side, Naruto had the clones and time to ambush him from all sides. He also had the benefit of stamina. He could continue to make clones long after Sasuke was forced to deactivate the sharingan. Blind, he would have no choice but to hunker down and wait until his chakra recovered. Naruto was likely to use the forehead protector to find him if he simply vanished for a few hours. He decided to take the swiftest and most direct course, straight past the stream and out the same way he had come in.

First he rigged Naruto's trap. He made a regular clone, transformed it into a beetle, and gave it just enough chakra to set off the exploding tag when it fell on it. If the trap went off when Naruto passed through he would have to search the area to make sure he wasn't hiding there. That could buy him all the time he needed. He took off for the stream. There were more chakra-less traps in the trees now, thanks to Naruto, so he took the lower path. That was a calculated risk, because it could be exactly what Naruto had expected him to do. But his clone would only last so long before setting the trap off automatically. He wanted to reach the stream before that happened, otherwise he would be drawing Naruto right to him. He was so focused on watching for traps and avoiding the thicker parts of the underbrush that he ran right to the edge of the pit before he even saw it. He thrust chakra into his feet, stopping himself and pushing up and back. The snakes on top of the writhing mass struck out at him and he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid them all. Fangs sank into his left calf, reminding him why shorts were such a foolish thing to wear in snake territory. He used chakra to hold his back to the tree he had struck with his reverse leap, and lifted his leg to pry the snake's jaws loose.

It was a mid-sized snake, deadly only because of the amount of venom it could inject with a single bite. He had only encountered the species once before, but he had found its venom to be similar to one of the desert species he'd been injected with during his early training. This snake's venom came in larger doses but still wasn't as potent. He tossed the snake back into the pit, watching as it writhed deeper into the tangled pile. The pit was obviously man-made, perhaps part of a trap or the scar from a battle that had taken place here. The snakes had long since claimed it for their own. Sasuke couldn't begin to guess how many of this species must be in the forest for them to form such a large mating ball. It was what some of his summons referred crudely to as a snake orgy. He knew that was fairly common for constrictors, but he had never heard of venomous snakes breeding this way. Although a single bite would do little more than slow down a wounded shinobi by causing him to bleed out faster, there was enough venom in this pit to kill a small city. That was more than enough to satisfy his greediest summon.

He leapt onto a higher branch and quickly summoned Terra. The little gray snake immediately rose high, arching his neck to look greedily down at the entwined mass. Sasuke bent closer so he barely had to whisper. "I live near here now. The next time I summon you, I'll make up for last time without asking anything in return."

"Oh, ask for something," the snake hissed, turning to eye him closely. He gave no reaction to Sasuke's henge, assuming he even noticed it. Sasuke still wasn't sure if Terra simply looked past illusions, or if he couldn't see them at all. "It's been too long since I was last summoned. I feel unwanted."

As if this wasn't the same snake that had warned him not to waste his time by summoning him without a good reason - and a worthy reward. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and admitted, "All of my weapons are clean."

"I'll take care of that," the snake murmured dismissively. He turned to flick his tongue out eagerly over the pit of prey. "Call me soon."

"I will." He released the summon. Then he hurried on.

He hadn't gotten far before an explosion sounded in the distance behind him. Naruto's trap had gone off early. That either meant Naruto had passed through or something had tried to eat his clone. He hoped it was the latter, but knew he couldn't risk it. He doubled back and quickly began setting off some of the traps Naruto had left in the trees, leaving a clear trail around the pit. He doubted even demonic chakra would help him if he fell into that mess of venom. As it turned out, he needn't have worried. If Naruto had passed by the trap, it had only been with a clone. The real one was waiting for him at the stream, or to be more precise, in the stream. The moment Sasuke entered the clearing Naruto popped up above the bank and performed a multiple kage bunshin jutsu. Sasuke suddenly understood what he had meant by dogpile.

If it wasn't for the empty scroll, he would have been buried instantly. The bunshin were using nothing but basic taijutsu, but they were also grabbing his arms and legs, even jumping onto his back. He had never been in a fight like this, surrounded by sheer numbers who had no concern for their own safety. No matter how much he cut down on the number, Naruto continued to make more to replace them. Eventually the scroll was wrenched out of his hand. The clones who had grabbed it poofed out, but there were plenty more willing to sacrifice themselves in order to pass it along until it disappeared into the crowd. Sasuke released the fake kunai, attaching it with chakra to his feet to free his hands. He dropped and did a fast sweep to give himself more room. He knew the back ranks would jump him, so he flipped onto his back and released a katon straight up, burning them in midair. He then burned a wide circle around him. He didn't wait for the flames to clear before jumping into the air.

He spotted Naruto standing on the bank, wearing a wide smile as his hands flashed through the same jutsu he'd been using all along. The only jutsu he needed, apparently. Clones leapt at him from the treeline and he used a katon just weak enough to end shy of the trees to burn them all. But more were gathering beneath him and he had nowhere to go except straight down. He whipped out the second scroll. The curled snake landed on the army of clones, crushing them out of existence. He twisted to land on its head, intending to rebound off it and into the trees. He didn't need to. The moment his feet touched the snake's head it rose beneath him, shooting straight into the air until he could see right over the trees to the fence in the distance. It was closer than he had thought. Sasuke dropped to a crouch, clinging with his chakra as the snake swung its head around to hiss and bare its fangs at the freshly made clones who were suddenly swarming all over it. Sasuke pushed off with his feet, running down to the snake's snout where he turned to catch its eyes. The command for loyalty was now overriding the one for calm. Its tail snapped up to flick away the clones that tried to run right up its neck. It wasn't fighting, it was defending. Sasuke quickly modified his genjutsu, being careful not to make it too strong this time. The snake swung toward the stream, rushing past Naruto at a distance and taking him just close enough to leap into the trees. He heard it crash into the forest on the other side as he raced away. He had ordered it to return to its own territory, and he was confident Naruto wouldn't chase after it for petty revenge. Sure enough, the only sounds of pursuit were following right on his heels.

He increased his speed as much as he could without using the body flicker. His chakra level had gotten too low for that, and he couldn't risk losing the sharingan just as he was getting into the thickest traps. He spotted a strange web of chakra-laden wire strung out across the trees ahead of him and dropped to the ground. He avoided the camouflaged traps lain out beneath the web, and ducked around a chakra-laden spring trap. Except the chakra wasn't part of the trap. He only spotted the camouflaged hiding spot when Naruto broke cover and slammed into him. Knocked completely off balance, he hit the ground hard. More bunshin piled onto him, holding his arms apart and crushing him with their weight. He knew Naruto was just outside the pile because no clone could possibly sound that smug.

"Admit it, Sasuke. I caught you."

Sasuke gnashed his teeth and glared at the smirking faces within his field of vision. Every one of the clones looked as smug as Naruto sounded. "I've lost," he muttered. "Now get off me."

"I like it right where I am," said the clone on his back. Agreement quickly sounded from the others.

A hand groped his ass, another sliding up the leg of his shorts. The clone holding his left arm tried to kiss him, and the one on his back burrowed his face into the loose collar of his shirt to nip at his neck. Sasuke's eye twitched furiously as he squirmed under the sudden assault. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what the female snake in that pit had felt like. He snapped his teeth at the mouth trying to cover his own and yelled. "Naruto! Call them off or I will never have sex with you again!"

The clones vanished, leaving only a heavily pouting, and slightly flushed, Naruto behind. "That was a cruel ultimatum," he muttered. "You've had me running all over this forest looking for you, but I caught you before you could get out. I was just getting my reward. You did say you'd have sex with me in the forest."

"You," Sasuke snapped as he shoved himself up, "not your dogpiling minions."

Naruto grinned suddenly, in a rather creepy way. "You have no idea what it was like when I released them just now. I can still feel the way you were squirming."

"That's all you're going to feel tonight if you don't shut up about it." Ignoring Naruto's pout, he rose and brushed himself off. For a moment there he had almost thought he would make it out. It wasn't as if he hadn't broken through an enemy line before. But those had been real people who got in the way of their own comrades when they fell. Everything was different with opponents who vanished the moment they were struck, clearing the way for the ones right behind them. He didn't know how to fight that way, so he should never have tried a direct approach.

"Are you mad that I caught you?"

He was, and that was ridiculous. Naruto had used nothing but a few traps, clones, and substandard taijutsu. If Naruto had taken this even a little seriously, he would never have stood a chance and he knew it. That didn't stop him from feeling frustrated. He had made a serious effort to get out, but not his best. That would have meant setting the snake on Naruto, sacrificing it in order to make his own escape. Naruto would have had no choice but to flee or break his word by using some serious ninjutsu. He hadn't even considered doing that because this was just an exercise. He needed to remember that. The only thing he had done wrong was fail to realize just how ill-prepared he was to cope with an army of bunshin.

"I'm not used to being beaten," Sasuke admitted, forcing himself to meet Naruto's eyes. "I expected you to catch me from the start, which is why I proposed it in the first place. That doesn't mean I like it. You'll have to make good on your promise to train me now. I don't know how to fight bunshin and I'll be holding a grudge against them until I learn."

"Just as long as you're holding a grudge against them and not me," Naruto said with a weak grin. "You can spar with them anytime you want. I thought you did pretty good against them, though. I did," he insisted, when Sasuke glared at him. "What was that scroll you were using? I've never heard of something that can dispatch bunshin just by touching them."

"Let's go back to the stream," said Sasuke. He needed to wash out the snake bite before he sealed it. The venom wouldn't affect him, but the germs from its fangs very well could. He waited until Naruto was moving alongside him before answering his question. "I put a storage seal on the scroll. It's one of the first seals I learned. Since kage bunshin are shadow and chakra there's no physical body to store, so the seal's attempt to draw them in simply disrupted the mix."

"It tries to draw in anything it touches?"

Sasuke sent him a quick look, suspicious that he was merely playing dumb. But Naruto honestly looked curious, and a little disturbed. Perhaps he had never needed to store bodies. Most villages preferred to use their own disposal teams on the spot. "It only stores bodies. I know it can pull in animals, but I've only used it on unconscious ones. I doubt it would work on a living human. It isn't designed to store chakra."

"What if it were someone with really low chakra, who was unconscious?"

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted. "In that case, it might work the same as it does on animals. I don't plan to find out either way. If there's even a chance that a person might wake up inside the scroll it would be torture." His eyes flicked to the side to catch Naruto's. "I'm not trained in that, remember?"

"I'm glad for that," Naruto laughed weakly. His smile didn't last long. "I'm going to have to tell my dad about that scroll, Sasuke. He might even want you to draw it out for Ibiki. I'm sorry, but it sounds suspicious, maybe even forbidden."

"It's just a standard storage seal. I left the scrolls by the stream. Assuming they weren't destroyed, you can bring them back with you. Or I can draw it out again on one of the blank scrolls in your bag. I've been using that seal since before Sand recognized me as a genin. If Konoha considers a pre-genin level jutsu forbidden then there's something very wrong with the way your village rates things."

Naruto was quiet for a while, frowning to himself. Finally he conceded reluctantly. "Maybe it isn't forbidden, then. It has to at least be restricted, though. And it sure as hell isn't a pre-genin level jutsu." He shook his head in exasperation. "You've been spending too much time with Sound if you believe that."

"Just because you've never heard of it doesn't mean it's restricted," Sasuke pointed out. "It isn't even difficult to do. It requires very little chakra and no preparation. Every retrieval team I ever encountered used the exact same seal to store bodies." Naruto halted suddenly, and he caught himself on the next tree over, turning to look back at him. He didn't know what to make of Naruto's expression.

"You're talking about Hunter-nin."

Sasuke made a face at that. "Only Mist hunters call themselves that. They hunt down and dispose of their own targets. Retrieval teams bring the bodies back to their own village after someone else takes them out."

"It's all the same thing," Naruto snapped angrily. He leapt to him and glared, his hands curled into fists at his side. "I should have known! Why were you holding back on me? Was all that talk about training and you having trouble with my bunshin just a ploy to make me look stupid? If you've been doing that kind of work, we could have had a real fight!"

"A real fight with you would kill me," Sasuke said coldly. "All I've been trained to do is kill my target, store or dispose of the body, and escape. In a real fight with you my only choice would be to escape, and we've just proven I wouldn't make it. Even if I wanted to give you a real fight, I don't know how to do it without risking your life or mine. If you want to teach me how it's done, do so. The only shinobi I have ever sparred with was my jounin instructor and even holding back your bunshin are far more difficult opponents than he was. If you thought I was holding back with them, you're blind. I couldn't do a damned thing with all of them holding me down."

The visible anger faded from Naruto's face, leaving confusion in its wake. "It didn't look like you were holding back at the time. But you're so fast, and you hid so well I had bunshin spread out all over the place and I only caught sight of you that first time. You keep going on about how you're still a genin, but you controlled that snake and you took out my bunshin with that fire jutsu like it was easy. Your skills are all over the place. You've been doing a Hunter seal so long you call it easy, but you didn't even try to use a replacement jutsu on my clones. Now that's a pre-genin justu. If you had done that you never would have ended up on the bottom of that pile."

"I can't do the replacement jutsu." Being labeled worse than a pre-genin burned. That jutsu hadn't been part of Sand's test, but he knew perfectly well that it was a standard genin-level move. If Kakashi had fought back earlier he would have pushed him into using it just for the chance to copy it now that he had the eyes to do so. "I've never seen the handsigns. I didn't need it on my missions, so I wasn't taught it."

Naruto winced. "I thought that might be why, but I didn't want to believe it. You can't even graduate from the Academy here without learning the replacement jutsu. But you can do summons, which isn't even standard. We have plenty of jounin who never do summons at all. I don't know how we're going to test you to figure out your level. I guess you could make a list of all the techniques you know and I can try to sort it out and fill in the gaps, but you have things like that seal. If that's used by Hunter-nin then it's an Anbu technique and not one of the ones I learned. I'm going to have to call in some help on this. Sorry. I'll train you as much as I can but right now I don't even know where to start."

"A list won't help," Sasuke sighed. "I've picked up too many things I don't know the names for, assuming they have any. It would be simpler to tell me what shinobi in each rank are supposed to be capable of and let me work from there. I met two of your village's jounin this morning. I don't know if your toad mentioned that to you or not. They were taken in by the weakest genjutsu I have. Does that mean jounin aren't required to be capable of recognizing and dispelling a basic genjutsu, or that the simplest one I have is at jounin level?"

"Gamakichi didn't say anything to me," Naruto blurted, his eyes wide. "Were you attacked? By Konoha shinobi?"

"It wasn't an attack. Your toad said they were just protecting their own. They wanted to know what I was doing in your village. One of them tried to intimidate answers out of me, so I sent them the illusion that I had run off into the trees to avoid answering. They fell for it completely."

"I'll find out who they were," Naruto said quietly. "Hopefully they didn't mean any harm, but-"

"Your toad was confident they didn't. And that's not the point. What kind of jounin would fall for such a simple illusion? Are they not trained to see through genjutsu or was it me?"

"I don't know," Naruto admitted with a shrug. "I guess it depends on the jounin. Not everyone is good at genjutsu, you know." He started to say something and stopped. When he spoke again, it was in a defensive tone. "One of my best friends got promoted to chunin without being good at any ninjutsu at all. He might never make it to jounin, but he's bound to make special jounin just on the strength of his taijutsu. Every shinobi has his own strengths, so just because you met some jounin who were weak at genjutsu doesn't mean all jounin are, or that people weak at genjutsu aren't qualified to be jounin. Your genjutsu might be stronger than you think, but even if it isn't that doesn't mean all jounin will be able to see through it."

"Which tells me nothing," Sasuke muttered darkly. If someone could make chunin without being skilled in ninjutsu he knew even less about the levels than he had thought. He knew every shinobi had weak points. If he had to name one of his worst it would be taijutsu. But that just meant he needed more training in that area. He couldn't imagine a system that allowed people to advance when they were lacking entire branches of the ninja arts. That Naruto spoke of it as if it were common knowledge made him feel ignorant. He hated that. "The ranks mean nothing to me. I don't know where the lines are drawn or why."

"I know the perfect person to teach you that," Naruto said confidently. His demeanor brightened and he threw an arm around Sasuke's shoulders. "At least we know one thing for certain. You're sure as hell not a genin. Come on, I'll teach you the replacement jutsu on the way to the stream. With the sharingan I bet you'll have it copied in no time."

In fact, he only needed to see it twice. Naruto did it slowly the first time so he could see exactly how it was done, and then again using only a one-handed sign to focus his chakra. It was this latter method that Kakashi had used so much during that mission. Without the sharingan it had looked the same as all of the one-handed shortenings he had seen used for everything from offensive ninjutsu to teleportations. He had Naruto perform it a third time using him as the replacement object, to see what the bunshin would experience if he were to try it on them. Without the sharingan it would have been too fast to follow. Even with the eyes he couldn't react quickly enough to evade and he felt nothing. Naruto was quick to inform him that the only surefire way to avoid being nabbed in a good replacement was to watch for it and move before it started. He then darted off with an invitation to try it on him. Sasuke was more than up to the challenge.

By the time they reached the stream the novelty of finally doing the replacement jutsu had worn off. It was, after all, a very basic technique. He had never needed to learn it because he was fast enough to evade without using a substitute. He couldn't see himself relying on it now. It might get him out of the center of a bunshin pile one-handed, but it wouldn't take him far. That was assuming he could even pull it off now that Naruto would be expecting him to use it. He would have to experiment with it if he were going to get any real use out of it. The jutsu was limited to things he could reach with his hands and chakra. Stored and summoned objects would take it a little further, but he doubted he would use the logs Naruto claimed were standard in Konoha. He was more likely to incorporate weapons and chakra wire, provided moving objects maintained the same momentum after being switched. Still, whether it ever became a staple in his arsenal of techniques or not, he was glad to know it. The next time he faced someone who overused the technique he would know how to put a stop to it.

Naruto was openly disappointed when Sasuke stopped practicing the jutsu. He remained animated, though, bright-eyed and quick to smile. Either he had fully overcome his reluctance to be in this forest or he was too distracted to think about where they were. When Sasuke crouched by the stream, he continued talking as he scoured the area for the scrolls. He didn't seem the least bit worried about his voice carrying into the forest.

"I never learned the original clone technique," Naruto admitted wryly. "To this day, I can't do it. It takes so little chakra and it has to be done just right. I know if I forced myself I could probably learn it eventually, but I can't see the point. The kage bunshin jutsu is so much simpler. The more chakra you use, the more clones you make but the less chakra each of them has. That's all there is to it. So I figure, why bore myself to death making generic clones when I can make the good ones with no problem?"

"If you did both you could mix them," Sasuke offered. He dug a kunai into each of the punctures on his leg, opening them up. The snakes in the stream went wild, but there were enough fish drawn in as well that they ignored him. He knew what little venom that remained in the bites wasn't enough to hurt anything in the water. "You'd have the same amount of clones, but the bunshin would be twice as strong."

"I know. Iruka-sensei used to talk about that. He was my Academy teacher, so he's probably the one most annoyed that I never learned that jutsu. But if I were facing someone so good I had to mix up my clones like that, I probably wouldn't use them in the first place. Not to mention people like you, who would be able to spot the plain ones from the bunshin. No, I've never needed it, so there's no point learning it now. I guess it's the same way with you, huh? Did your jounin instructor leave out the replacement jutsu because he thought you were already past needing it?"

"That's what he said. But it was a lie." At the time he had thought his instructor honestly believed he was beyond needing to know basic things like the replacement jutsu. Now he knew better. Advanced jutsus were built upon basic ones. The gaps in his understanding of the basics severely limited how much he could build upon what he didn't know. The scrolls Naruto was looking for were a prime example of that. He knew how to perform that technique, but he didn't know where the things he put into the scroll were stored or why the seals used on the scroll worked the way they did. He couldn't alter the technique or build upon it without knowing those things.

"What happened?" Naruto asked suddenly. He had appeared beside him and was staring in anger at his bloody leg. "Did one of them bite you?"

"No. I got this earlier from a different species altogether. Don't worry. It isn't a problem." He pulled his leg out of the water and sealed the small wounds.

"I thought snakes were the last thing you'd have to worry about," Naruto grumbled, shaking his head. "A snake summoner getting bitten by a snake...?"

"We probably get bitten more often than anyone else. It's the quickest way to build up an immunity to venoms."

"Well, I don't like it." Naruto dropped to sit beside him as he stored the scrolls in his bag. Only the one used on the snake was fully intact. The other was in tatters. "So, what did you mean when you said your instructor lied?"

"The day he was assigned to me, I asked if he were going to fill in the gaps in my training. He said that would be moving backwards whereas his task was to take me forward." His eyes narrowed in contempt for his own naivety. "His real task was to keep me right where I was. He admitted it the day I left."

"Then you didn't learn anything from him?"

Naruto appeared outraged on his behalf. That was gratifying enough for Sasuke to be honest with himself. As much as he resented having wasted the last two years, he couldn't really blame his teacher for that. He had merely been complying with the wishes of the clan itself. "He taught me how to train," he admitted. He had to give the man at least that much credit. "I was taught to take opponents out from a distance or to come in disguised and let them take themselves out. My hand to hand combat skills were abysmal the first time we sparred. I learned taijutsu from him. He wasn't very good at it, but he willingly gave me his best. His true skills lay in combining ninjutsu with weapons, mostly with chakra wire. I took what I could from that."

"You only used a kunai earlier," Naruto pointed out skeptically. "You didn't combine it with anything that I saw."

"I've only been experimenting. I don't have anything down well enough to use it in actual combat. Besides, it would have been tedious trying to collect any weapons I had used in this forest." Naruto looked as if he didn't believe him. He wondered if Naruto had heard about his response to Kakashi's mock test earlier. That had been as far from a combat situation as one could get. As Kakashi had been quick to note, a real opponent wouldn't have stood in one place while he experimented on him. His instructor had been willing to play guinea pig for him, but only until he realized he was trying to change his wind techniques into lightning ones. Sasuke still wasn't sure what had angered the man more, his inability to perform the techniques as they were or that he'd had the nerve to try and alter them to suit himself. Either way, that had been the end of his elemental ninjutsu training. The things he had been working on since then remained untested and unstable. It would have been a total waste of chakra to attempt them on Naruto's bunshin.

"If we were fighting in an open training area, would you show me some of the things you're experimenting with?"

"Yes. But only if you show me something in exchange. I want to see how you fight your own bunshin. Then I'll know where to start."

"Sure," Naruto grinned. "Then once you're holding your own with them we can try this again. In the daytime, though. My eyes aren't as good as yours in the dark."

"Speaking of which, if you want to have sex out here we should do it now. I'll be losing the sharingan soon. I don't want to be out here at night without it." He didn't want to rely on Naruto to ensure their safety.

"Nice way to make it sound like a chore," Naruto sighed. "You really don't want to do it outside, huh?"

"I don't care where we're doing it so long as no one sees us. But I assumed the point of doing it in a forest was to do it in a tree. When I lose the sharingan I won't have the chakra to stay in a tree, either. So if we're going to, we'll have to hurry."

"I didn't even think of tree sex." Naruto's eyes were wide, and he had a dumbfounded look on his face. "Why didn't I think of that? We're in a forest. We could totally do it in a tree. And I didn't even..." He let out a disgusted breath, shaking his head. "My fantasy always involved me taking you down with bunshin and molesting the hell out of you right there on the spot. Sort of like earlier except without you threatening to cut me off. I never considered the fact that it would mean doing it on the ground in dirt or grass. That's actually pretty plain and messy. But doing it in a tree? That's kinky as hell. We have got to try that. Not tonight, though. Tree sex is a lot more complicated than anything I've done. I'll have to come up with a strategy for it."

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. Without a plan, doing it in a tree could be really awkward, not to mention dangerous."

Naruto was putting far too much thought into it, but if it kept him from expecting sex right now that was fine with him. All he wanted was to shower and get a few hours of sleep. He wondered what it would take to get Naruto to let him sleep alone on his couch. "Can we go back to your apartment, then? I've had enough of this training ground for one day."

"Yeah, though it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I guess it helps to be with someone who actually wants to be here. Thanks for luring me out here, Sasuke." He leaned over to kiss him on the cheek and smiled warmly. "You can let go of that henge now, and the sharingan, too. I'll take us home."

Sasuke waited until they were back in the apartment before considering Naruto's easy acquiescence. He didn't appear upset or even particularly surprised to find himself back here without having gotten any sex out of the trip. Had he expected him to back out from the start? It wasn't as if Sasuke had intentionally used up his chakra in order to get out of his promise. He followed Naruto into the kitchen, watching as he bypassed the freshly stocked refrigerator to dig a pack of instant ramen out from under the sink. Sasuke got himself a glass of juice and sat down across the table from him. "Are you disappointed?"

Naruto didn't bother to feign ignorance. He smiled sheepishly. "That we didn't have sex out there? Yeah, a little. But you were only going to do it because I wanted to. I know that's the only reason you do anything with me right now, but I'm really hoping you'll start looking forward to it at least a little. I don't want it to always be a chore you only do because you feel obligated to. I said if you liked it we would do it whenever you want. So I'll try to wait until you want to do it again. You do like it, don't you?"

Considering how hard he had come from it, Naruto already knew the answer to that question. Sasuke grudgingly confirmed it. "I do. Physically," he qualified. "Personally, I'd just as soon never do it again if I didn't know you wouldn't be satisfied with that. If you wait until I want to do it again, you'll be waiting forever. I don't share your need or desire for it. Don't wait for me to seek it out. If you want to wait, wait until I'm not particularly reluctant to do it again."

"Meaning you're reluctant to do it now?" Naruto made a valiant attempt to look understanding and accepting rather than disappointed and hurt. He failed miserably.

Sasuke sighed. All Naruto got out of this arrangement was sex and company and here he was wanting to deny him both. "I won't refuse to have sex with you now if you want me to. But I'd rather not. I'm not used to keeping the sharingan activated for hours at a time and that was the closest thing I've had to a mission in four years. Sex with you is exhausting even when I'm not already tired and sore. If we have sex now I won't be able to keep up." Naruto would probably get more out of sex with a bunshin right now than he would with him.

"I didn't realize you were that worn out," Naruto said quickly, looking both guilty and concerned. "You don't look tired, and you didn't falter at all on the way back to the stream. When you said you were close to losing the sharingan I thought it was just because you wanted to hurry up and get the sex over with. If I had known you were forcing yourself I would have taken you back here as soon as I caught you. Honestly! The last thing I want to do is take chances with you. Is there anything I can do to help? I could give you a massage. I promise not to try anything," he added earnestly. "I swear I'm not inconsiderate enough to take advantage of you when you're not feeling well."

"All I need is rest." He certainly didn't need Naruto fussing over him. "Did making all of those bunshin not put so much as a dent in your chakra reserves?" It was difficult not to be resentful as well as envious.

Naruto flushed and dropped his eyes. "It did a little. I don't usually make so many unless I'm going to keep them around for a while, mostly for training. If my dad knew how many I made tonight, he'd call it a gross waste of chakra. You won't mention that to him, will you?" Sasuke's eyebrows shot up, and Naruto frowned stubbornly at him. "I wasn't being reckless. I still had plenty of chakra left to protect us with. If we had been attacked by someone I couldn't handle, I would have taken us right back here. So it's not like we were in any real danger. He just worries. I don't want him to lecture me about not being more careful with you."

"Would he curtail future excursions?"

"Maybe. Even if I don't tell him you were low on chakra by the time we were finished, I'm sure he won't want me to challenge you again until he can get Kakashi to test you. I wouldn't mind that since I was going to ask his advice anyway, but there's a chance my dad won't want us to train without Kakashi supervising it. I'm looking forward to training with you myself as much as possible, just the two of us. With him around we'd have to go slow and careful and it wouldn't be nearly as much fun."

"Kakashi already tried to test me," Sasuke informed him. He'd just as soon not have the man involved in his training at all. "When he took me to the forest we arrived in an open training area. His test was as bad as Sound's genin test. He just stood in one place waiting for me to attack."

Naruto grinned, his eyes glowing with amusement. "Did he have his bells?"

"I didn't see any bells," Sasuke frowned, not sure what he meant.

"Then it wasn't a real test. That's typical Kakashi-sensei, though. It used to drive me crazy the way he'd just stand there reading his book, like my attacks weren't even serious enough for him to pay attention. The only time he'd budge was when I hid and made him come after me, or when he used the replacement jutsu on one of my bunshin to throw me off. Don't worry, though. Once he has his bells out, all you have to do is get close enough to touch one and he'll take you more seriously. He really is a strong opponent to fight with. If you get him interested enough to start using ninjutsu, he has tons of techniques. My dad was his teacher, but he still considers it challenging to fight with him. I love watching the two of them spar. I never know what they're going to do next."

"I'd rather spar with you," said Sasuke. "I'll learn a lot more from an opponent willing to engage me than I would from attacking a stationary target." If even Naruto had to prove himself in order to interest Kakashi, it was no wonder the man hadn't bothered to display his skills with him. Sasuke knew he wasn't good enough to impress him with an open attack and trying to would only frustrate and humiliate him. Had his weapons been poisoned he might have killed him with that kunai strike, but if taking him out had been his goal he would have simply used the sharingan. The point was to draw him into a fight without incapacitating or endangering him. Sasuke had no idea how to do that. "If your father puts him in charge of my training I might as well be training alone. That's what I've been doing for the last two years. It hasn't gotten me anywhere."

"He won't put him in charge," Naruto assured him. "Training you is my responsibility. You're my partner. He'll want you tested to know what you're capable of so Konoha isn't responsible for endangering you when you accompany me on missions. But anything beyond that is personal. If he orders Kakashi to supervise, it will only be to make sure I don't push you too far or wear myself out too much to handle an attack. I tend to get carried away with my own training so he prefers to have someone on hand if there's trouble. I'm not about to take risks with you, though, so he shouldn't worry too much. He knows better than anyone how much you mean to me."

His gaze was so direct and sincere that Sasuke was forced to look away. If Naruto had formed an emotional attachment to someone he had never even spoken to, that was his problem. Sasuke wouldn't pretend to understand, let alone sympathize. He certainly wouldn't accept responsibility for it. As far as he was concerned, Naruto's feelings were for the idea, the fantasy. Naruto would be lucky if he ever came to like the real him. Few people did. Interacting with people was not one of his skills and he was content to leave it that way.

He took his glass to the sink and rinsed it out. He could feel Naruto's gaze following him and wondered if he were hoping for some sort of response to his comment. He wouldn't be getting one. "I'm going to shower and turn in for the night," Sasuke said, once he'd put the glass away.

"You're not going to eat anything first?"

Sasuke didn't want to hear a lecture about eating habits from someone who considered ramen a good midnight snack. "I'll fix something in the morning."

He decided against asking to sleep on the couch. Company was all Naruto would be getting from him tonight, after all. He was regretting that decision by the time Naruto finished his own shower and joined him in the bed. Naruto turned off the light and climbed in a conspicuous distance away from him. Compared to last night the mood was awkward and uncomfortable. Naruto had apparently taken his reluctance to have sex as a refusal to have any contact whatsoever. All Sasuke had to do was look at the way Naruto was curled on his side of the bed to know he was feeling rejected. He was far too thin-skinned. Would he react this way any time Sasuke went to his own room after they moved? The more immediate question was whether he'd be bitter and resentful in the morning if Sasuke let him fall asleep like this. He would almost certainly sulk. That wasn't something Sasuke wanted to deal with just when he stood to gain from this arrangement.

He reached over to tug on a bit of the damp blonde hair sticking out above the covers. "Scoot back some. You're too close to the edge."

Naruto moved back, but only a few inches. He ducked deeper under the covers, his voice muffled and small. "I'm fine like this. Good night, Sasuke."

Just like a sulking child. Or a rejected lover. Sasuke sighed and moved over himself. He didn't press as close as Naruto would have, and the arm he put around him was on top of the covers. It was enough, though. Naruto immediately relaxed, turning a little so the arm curled more comfortably around him. Sasuke's lips twitched when he heard him give a contented sigh. If he was that easy to please this might not be as difficult as he had thought. He closed his eyes, determined to get some real sleep and secure in the knowledge that if Naruto moved in the night he was more likely to tighten his arm, drawing him closer, than to strike out at him. If he did that, Naruto would probably just take it as an invitation to roll over and snuggle. Naruto clearly enjoyed being held.

.-.  
TBC


	9. Chapter 9

"You're never going to get it. What are you trying to do, anyway?"

Sasuke clenched his teeth as the chakra flared wildly and then exploded in his hands. He was very close to attacking Naruto's toad. He had been able to ignore it when he was warming up with the training post and it had been content to lounge on the other side of the stream. Once he had sat down near the water, it had turned its full attention on him. He didn't know if it was intentionally trying to irritate him or if it was really oblivious to the fact that he was trying to concentrate. He didn't care either way. His patience was fraying fast. He should have had Naruto leave him with a clone instead. At least then he would have had the option of dispatching it.

After breakfast Naruto had seen him to the small training ground he had introduced him to yesterday. He had been reluctant to leave him, but he had things to do and Sasuke hadn't wanted to be stuck waiting in the apartment. Once Naruto had spoken to his toad about the two shinobi who had shown up yesterday he had taken off. Now it was just the two of them. Sasuke supposed the toad could be bored and annoyed to be assigned to watch him. Or maybe it was just naturally nosy. Whatever its motivation was, he saw no point in explaining himself to a summon. He narrowed his eyes to block out the sight of it. The toad was sitting directly across the stream from him now. He would only have to turn his hands a few inches to the right in order to accidentally blast it in the face. For all he knew that was exactly what the summon wanted.

He cooled his hands in the water, shook them off, and performed the jutsu again. His chakra coalesced pale blue between his hands, forming three jagged lines even with his fingers. He eased his hands closer together to thin the spikes out. His teacher had kept the skewers thick and jagged when adding wind, and thin and sharp when using sand. He was just trying to keep them solid enough that they wouldn't explode the moment he started to transform the chakra. He was able to add lightning to the ragged edges the same way he would coat a solid weapon, but as soon as he tried to coax it inward the currents crackled wildly against his fingers and palms. It stung and his natural instinct was to move his hands away. This was the point where his teacher would have caught hold and thrown them. He had been able to do that without being cut by the wind-laced chakra, so Sasuke was sure there had to be a way to avoid being affected by the lightning. For now he just focused on keeping the chakra stable. The skewers were trying to lengthen on him, flickering at the tips.

"Naruto isn't going to like this," the toad warned him.

Sasuke's fingers twitched and that was all it took. For a split second he was very tempted to release the chakra into the stream. The splash wouldn't carry the current cleanly enough to kill the toad, but it would singe him quite painfully. Instead he thrust the chakra away, letting it fizzle out in the dirt. Naruto was in a good mood this morning and he wanted to keep him that way. Attacking his toad in a fit of frustration would guarantee the exact opposite. He cooled his hands in the stream and then retreated to the far side of the training ground. The toad might decide to follow him, but he had an easy way to keep it at a distance.

He divided his weapons up and made two shadow clones to take them into the trees. Sure enough, the toad hopped the stream and started toward him. Sasuke raised his right hand and the clone on that side threw a kunai. He caught it with the chakra on the back of his hand, whipping around to throw it so it embedded in the ground right in front of the annoying summon. The toad leapt backwards, proving it did have reflexes to make up for its lack of common sense.

"What are you trying to do?" Gamakichi demanded, sounding more startled than angry.

"Train," Sasuke sneered. What did it look like? He turned his back on the toad, confident it wouldn't come any closer. The second clone threw a shuriken at him. He got his left arm up in time to graze it with his chakra, but he couldn't quite hold it. He swept it up with his foot and kicked it back. It took a few minutes before they could get a good rhythm going, then the clones began to change position in the trees, pausing only long enough to catch what he managed to return. He made it a point not to watch them, though he couldn't help hearing the occasional crack as one of them tried a branch too weak to hold his weight.

"You have a weird way of playing catch."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he snapped his hand to the side so the kunai he'd been about to catch flew over his shoulder instead. He heard the toad choke and scramble out of the way. After that there was silence. The clones picked up the pace until they ran out of weapons. He hadn't missed any with his hands, but he had only managed to catch one with his arms. He considered that a fluke. He hadn't been able to return it, and had it come any closer it would have grazed him. He was getting better at slowing weapons down with his chakra, but he could only hold them with his hands and feet. The clones came in to gather the weapons scattered around him, and then he sent them back to the trees. He would have liked to try this in the trees himself, but then the toad wouldn't be able to watch him and Naruto wanted him watched. With the bunshin he would get the experience even if he couldn't join them himself. They were quicker to pick up the pace this time, more used to moving in the branches. Sasuke was fully engrossed in the fast exchange when one of the bunshin missed and was grazed by a return. It was expelled and the feedback hit him just as the other clone launched a kunai. He missed with his chakra and was forced to catch it with his hand, grimacing as it bit into his palm.

"Incoming," the remaining clone warned, dropping from the trees.

"I know," Sasuke sighed. It was the sound of footsteps approaching along the ground that had distracted the clone enough to miss. He took the remaining weapons from the second clone and let it go retrieve the ones the first had left behind. He quickly gathered up the few spotting the ground around him. The clone had a bemused look on its face when it returned. Sasuke accepted the weapons and released the clone. He immediately understood. Pink hair couldn't be that common even here. And since she was important to Naruto he would have to be civil to her. No wonder the clone had been amused at his expense.

"What's up?" the toad asked, eyeing him warily when he retrieved the two kunai that had landed near it.

"Sakura, I assume," Sasuke muttered. He couldn't wait until he was training exclusively in the forty-fourth training ground. This one was far too close to the rest of the village. Between Naruto's toad and curious villagers he would never be able to train here. He resigned himself and turned to watch for the visitor. Naruto was right. She didn't look much like her pregenin photo. She was taller, her hair was shorter, and she looked a lot more like a shinobi now.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she greeted, stopping just inside the clearing.

"I know," said Sasuke.

She blinked in surprise and then her smiled widened. "Did Naruto warn you I might be stopping by?"

"No."

Naruto had warned him he might have to talk to his father or Ibiki about the scroll, but he hadn't taken that seriously. Ibiki already knew he had been doing assassinations so he shouldn't be surprised that he knew the storage seal. He wondered if Naruto had been talking to this girl about him or if he had merely run into her on his way to see his father. She was the one who had helped clean Naruto's apartment, which meant she knew all about their arrangement. He disliked that immensely. It might as well be public knowledge with everyone close to Naruto knowing the truth. But he had agreed to it, so he would have to live with it.

He took in the girl's openly confused expression and blanked his own. "What do you want?"

"He isn't much of a talker," Naruto's toad offered in a droll voice.

She smiled at that, greeting the summon by name. There was still amusement in her green eyes when she turned back to him. "I just thought I'd stop by and say hello, and welcome you to Konoha. I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to meet you yesterday. Naruto mentioned that you had a few bruises he'd like healed." Her eyes swept over him, and her lips twitched. "I'd say it's your hand that requires immediate attention."

Sasuke broke eye contact long enough to heal the shallow stab wound on his palm. He then slid his hands into his pockets and waited. The bruising on his face was faint and would be gone within a day or two. If Naruto had told her about the dark ones on his neck he would deal with him later. She continued to watch him with barely restrained amusement, so he stated the obvious. "I don't need a medic."

Sakura smirked. "I am a medic-nin. A very good one, in fact. If you're really planning to train with Naruto, I expect we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the hospital. Or his apartment, if Tsunade-sama is particularly annoyed with him. She likes to let him linger in the hospital for a few days when he's really injured, just to remind him that healing a bit faster than normal people doesn't make him impervious. You, on the other hand, should be in and out fairly quickly. Quiet patients are the easiest ones." She had advanced as she spoke, and now paused a foot away. Her smirk faded into a small apologetic smile. "It will only take a moment. You won't put up a fuss, will you?"

Sasuke looked away, knowing it wasn't worth arguing about. Her hand hovered over his cheek, the chakra tingling against his skin. Then she moved both hands over his bandaged neck. He gave no reaction to that, but inside he seethed. He would make Naruto pay for telling her about that, the only question was how. She stepped back when she was done, and then asked to see his hands. He grudgingly pulled them out of his pockets, looking down at them himself. The palms were reddened and there were a few nicks on his fingers. That was nothing compared to the damage he had sustained during his early attempts. He watched her heal his hands, pulling away when she tried to touch one of his freshly healed palms. He had put up with the healing only because Naruto had obviously asked her to do it. He wouldn't stand for any more than that.

"What were you doing to cause that sort of damage?" She was frowning at him now, and her tone implied that she expected a quick answer.

Sasuke wondered if that tone of hers worked on Naruto. He had said she was more liable to punch him through a tree than to hug him. She didn't look capable of that, but he had learned a long time ago not to judge shinobi entirely by appearance. She wore fingerless gloves with plates on the top, which wasn't standard for a medic as far as he knew. He watched her annoyance increase as he remained silent. Like Naruto, she didn't bother to school her expressions. In the end it was the toad who spoke up.

"Something dangerous," Gamakichi informed her eagerly. "Naruto isn't going to like it."

"I should say not," she huffed. She glowered at Sasuke for a moment and then let it go. "Since Naruto is handling your training you won't learn any healing jutsus. Being able to seal a flesh wound is handy in a pinch, but it won't help if there's internal damage. If you decide you're interested in medical ninjutsu, just let me know. It would be nice to know Naruto has someone with at least a little medical training accompanying him. I'll try make time to join you two on missions, but Tsunade-sama prefers to have me on hand at the hospital as much as possible. I'm only a chunin, so I still have a lot to learn myself."

"Naruto mentioned doing missions to you?" He had assumed it would just be the two of them. Naruto hadn't said a word about taking someone else along. She might be a skilled medic, but she was also the person Gaara had targeted as Naruto's 'weakness' during their exam. He couldn't fathom why Naruto would want her to accompany him anywhere after that.

"Of course," Sakura said in surprise. "Didn't Naruto tell you? We're teammates. Now that you're here we have a three-man team again. This time we can do real missions together. It's a good thing, too. He might be strong enough to handle solo missions, but they're an unnecessary risk. I'm sure between the two of us we'll have no trouble keeping him in line." She grinned deviously. "I look forward to working with you. Naruto means well, but he's still a little too impetuous for his own good."

He didn't want to work with her. He certainly didn't want to be on a team with her. The only 'team' he had ever really been a part of had been slaughtered right before his eyes. He didn't want to imagine how Naruto would react if anything happened to her during a mission. It would be difficult enough to keep Naruto from worrying about him without dragging his old weakness along for the trip. He could only hope she had improved greatly since her chunin exam. Surely Naruto wouldn't consider taking her on missions if he didn't think she was capable. He tried to reassure himself, but all he could think about was that hollow tree. Maybe taking Naruto back to that forest had been a mistake. If Naruto was looking to use him to rebuild the genin team he had lost then Sasuke would just as soon forgo missions altogether. To him that sounded like a good way to ensure history repeated itself, the very thing Naruto had claimed he didn't want. He refused to be party to that. He didn't say anything to Sakura, though. This was between him and Naruto.

"I have a little time before I'm due at the hospital. Would you like a sparring partner?"

She couldn't be serious. Sasuke had a difficult time keeping the distaste off his face. Some of it must have sounded in his voice because her eyes narrowed when he gave a flat no. He didn't care if she was insulted. He was insulted himself that she would even suggest it. He refused to believe Naruto had put her up to it. That meant it was her idea. Did he really look that weak? Her arms were as thin as that female transformation Naruto had performed. Even if she did have special abilities that made her stronger than she looked offensively, he wouldn't be able to risk fighting back. A glancing blow might be all it took to injure her. He could easily imagine how Naruto would react to that.

"You're underestimating me," Sakura said with a pursed frown. "I get that a lot, so I won't hold it against you. I guess Naruto hasn't told you as much about me as I thought. My medical training has offensive aspects as well. I'm a lot stronger than I look." She cracked her knuckles, a taunting smile curving her lips. "Come on, show me what you've got. I promise to heal any damage I cause."

If she was that strong he would have to avoid being struck. Sparring with her would still be a waste of time. He was already good at dodging. Even if he could see a point in fighting her, he wouldn't unless Naruto pushed him to. "I'm not going to fight you." She promptly scowled, reminding him even more of Naruto. Maybe it was the village or Fire Country itself that led these shinobi to be so emotional. He was suddenly sure she would be as easy to incite as Naruto or the jounin who had attacked him on the way here. Since he didn't want to incite her he kept his expression neutral. Naruto's toad was watching him closely, as if he were the one liable to attack her rather than the other way around. The summon was already biased against him thanks to the genjutsu he had used yesterday. In all likelihood it had been annoying him on purpose just to see what he would do. He decided to borrow its objection. "Naruto wouldn't like it."

"No, he wouldn't."

Sasuke tensed, his eyes snapping up to locate the man in a tree above Sakura's left shoulder. The man had approached right in front of him and he hadn't seen him, let alone sensed his presence. It was things like this that told him there were levels far beyond him. Kakashi was in one. Where before he had respected that, now all he felt was resentment. Where was Naruto? He shouldn't have to deal with these people of his on his own. He felt harassed. They knew he had no recourse against them, so they were free to do whatever they liked the moment Naruto left his side. It could be like that with every shinobi in this village. He wondered how long he would be able to put up with it before he stopped going anywhere on his own. He had no doubts that it was intentional. Naruto had promised him freedom, so it was up to the rest of them to make him voluntarily give up that freedom. He knew he shouldn't blame them. He certainly wouldn't have wanted an outsider roaming freely through the clan compound.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura whirled around, looking startled and guilty. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," the man said as he dropped to stand beside her. His visible eye curved with amusement. "Really, Sakura. Testing him before I've had a chance to? And you call Naruto impetuous."

"It wasn't like that," Sakura said quickly, flashing a harmless smile. "I know Naruto is going to keep him to himself for a while, so I just stopped by for a chance to meet him. I wasn't really planning to fight him, but you know how I feel about being underestimated. I guess I let my temper get the better of me."

Kakashi hummed skeptically, flicking Sasuke a knowing look before eyeing the girl. "Then you came dressed for combat in order to make a good impression and not because you intended to challenge him from the start? I see. That makes perfect sense to me. I'm sure Naruto will believe it as well when you explain it to him. He's so understanding."

The girl winced. For a moment her eyes flashed with what might have been outrage, but all that made it to her face was awkward embarrassment. The look she sent Sasuke made him wonder if she wasn't better at hiding things than he had thought. There was a glint in her eyes that definitely didn't match her apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'm sure Naruto wouldn't mind us sparring, but I should have waited until he was around to watch before suggesting it. Maybe the three of us can make a day of it. And don't worry, I promise to be gentle when I teach you why you should never judge a kunoichi by appearances."

"You've been spending too much time with Tsunade," Kakashi drawled, shaking his head at her. "Take off. And no spying. You've meddled enough for one morning."

The girl made a face at him, waved at Sasuke, and then darted off into the trees. Sasuke wished Kakashi had gone with her. More than that, he wished he had asked Naruto to teach him the teleportation jutsu. He would have had no qualms about retreating to his apartment in order to avoid being left alone with this man again. If Kakashi became as involved in his training as Naruto had warned he might, Sasuke supposed he would develop the patience to tolerate being condescended to eventually. He didn't have that sort of patience yet. It took most of his restraint just to keep his aversion to the man from showing on his face.

Gamakichi hopped forward suddenly, halting Kakashi in his tracks a few feet from him. Sasuke blinked in surprise when he realized it was the toad's way of defending him. Maybe the summon wasn't as biased against him as he had thought. More likely it was just following Naruto's orders. Considering how upset Naruto had gotten the last time he was left alone with Kakashi, the toad might be as reluctant to see him again as Sasuke was.

"If it's Ibiki again, forget it," the toad said sharply. "Not unless Naruto goes along with him."

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow. "Sasuke would be much more comfortable speaking to Ibiki in private than he would be with Naruto hovering over him."

"Tell that to Naruto," Gamakichi grumbled. "All I know is I'm not letting anyone take him there again on my watch. I'll tell Pops if I have to."

"That won't be necessary," Kakashi chuckled. "As a matter of fact, Ibiki is content to wait a few more days before questioning him again. I'm here for an entirely different reason." He produced a little golden bell on a short string from his vest and reached down so it jingled in front of Gamakichi's head. "Hokage's orders."

The toad groaned, rocking back on its haunches. Its voice was plaintive. "Does Naruto know? Please tell me he knows!"

"He does. His father is keeping an eye on him so he doesn't interfere or panic too badly. Feel free to join them at the tower." His gaze flicked up, his eye dark with amusement. "I suspect Sasuke will perform better without any witnesses."

Sasuke's stomach dropped. Whether this was a real test or not, he was in the exact same position he had been in yesterday. The only difference was that if he failed this time the Hokage might decide he wasn't capable of joining Naruto on missions. He almost snorted at that. If Naruto intended to take Sakura along he wouldn't be doing missions anyway. The thing he really stood to lose was training. The Hokage might not let Naruto train him freely if he failed to pass this test. His eyes narrowed as he made the connection. With a simple joke of a test this village could get around another of the promises Naruto had made him. He wouldn't let them. If they had wanted him confined and harmless they shouldn't have let Naruto proposition him in the first place. It was too late now. Unless Naruto himself went back on his word he was going to get everything he had been promised.

Naruto's toad vanished, and Sasuke stepped forward to fill the space. "Naruto mentioned that you had a test involving bells," he said quietly. "What do I have to do to pass it?" His tone was as calm as his expression, but inside he was furious. He refused to waste a second more of his time on this farce than he absolutely had to.

Kakashi must have sensed some of his hostility because he sobered quickly. "All you have to do is get this away from me." He hooked the string of the bell to his waist, just below the vest.

"Does it matter how I accomplish that?"

"No. So long as you don't kill me," and his tone told Sasuke how unlikely he considered that possibility, "anything is allowed. There are Anbu stationed on the outskirts of this training area. They won't see anything so long as you don't venture too deep into the woods. I usually set a time limit with this test. For us that's until Naruto's patience wears out and he comes to check on you. That could be anywhere from a few hours to days, depending on how long the Hokage can reassure him."

He would only need a few minutes at most. His anger simmered and he didn't have to ready his chakra. A dark smile pulled at his mouth. He was going to enjoy this a little too much. "Once I've gotten your bell, I want your word you will never 'test' me again. I'm never going to impress you no matter how many times you stand in one place and invite me to attack. If you want to know what I'm capable of, attack me yourself. Otherwise stop wasting my time."

Kakashi looked disappointed in him as he sighed and shook his head. "You have a strange reluctance to fight for someone Naruto claims wants to be trained. You also seem confused about the point of this. I'll be impressed if you can so much as touch my bell. If you actually manage to take it, there won't be any need for further tests."

"I have your word on that?" He didn't expect the man to keep his word, so he wasn't surprised when he immediately gave it. The point was to have the man's promise so he could inform Naruto when he broke it. If Naruto placed value in trust he would make it a point to show him how untrustworthy his own people were. "When does this test begin?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"How about now?"

"That's fine with me," Kakashi drawled.

Sasuke smirked and channeled all of his chakra into his eyes. The man's left hand jerked upward as if to block his sight, but it was already too late. This was the only thing Itachi had ever given him advice on. Upon his return to the clan he had told him it was possible. By the time Sasuke had managed to do it, Itachi hadn't been interested in seeing it. In the end he had only used it on another person once. From then on his instructor had avoided looking at him any time he activated the sharingan. He didn't bother to hope it would have a similar effect on Kakashi.

Since he knew nothing about the man he plunged him into his own personal nightmare. Pulled beneath the water, reaching vainly toward the fading light as the icy darkness closed in around him. Kakashi fought him, recognizing the genjutsu for what it was and keeping his calm. He had a fine control of his chakra. Had Sasuke held back even a little he might have lasted much longer. As it was he could only strain to maintain a connection to his body as Sasuke pulled his mind deeper. His breathing became shallow as the pressure of the water forced the last bit of oxygen from his lungs.

Sasuke walked slowly toward him. Itachi had told him this was a level of genjutsu only an Uchiha could learn. He was confident no one but a fellow sharingan holder would be able to break free of it. But he hadn't mastered it, he hadn't even tried it since that first time because his own bunshin had no trouble throwing it off. He had more chakra to devote to it now, but the lack of steady practice made it more of a strain on his eyes. He wouldn't take any chances. He held the man suspended in the depths, his heartbeat pounding slower and slower in his ears. He waited until the last flickers of consciousness ebbed away along with the sound, and the body before him stopped breathing. Then he reached out and took the bell. The moment his hand curled around it he could see himself coating it with lightning chakra and shoving it down the man's throat. The thought was so petty and vicious he wrenched his eyes away before the image could be passed along via the sharingan. That sudden urge had nothing to do with Kakashi and his infuriating tests. It stemmed from his impotent rage at the entire situation he was now in. He wanted to take it out on someone because he couldn't take it out on the two people who were to blame. Itachi was out of reach and his father was his father.

A harsh breath sounded behind him as he reached the stream. He didn't bother to look back. He dropped the bell on the ground beside him and leaned down to splash water on his throbbing eyes. They hurt worse now than they had the last time he had done that. He had known they would. Back then he had performed it after months of intense practice using the sharingan to increase the strength of his genjutsu. Nothing he had done recently had prepared his eyes for this sort of strain. The technique might be useful in killing an opponent stronger than him, but he doubted he would ever have the chakra to perform it on a regular basis. Using it in a battle with more than one opponent would be nothing short of suicide. He wiped his hands off on his pants and picked up the bell. Kakashi was watching him when he rose and turned to face him. He didn't bother to try and decipher his expression. He tossed him the bell, noting how easily he caught it. His instructor had been left shivering and panting on his knees, and he hadn't kept him under nearly as long. Kakashi didn't even appear dizzy.

"Tell your Anbu guard to stand down," Sasuke muttered. "I'm going back to Naruto's apartment." He hadn't even reached the trees before the man was suddenly beside him, a vice-like grip closing over his shoulder. His eyes flashed furiously as he wrenched away. "I passed your test. You have no right to detain me."

"You used Tsukuyomi on me," Kakashi said coldly. "I have every right to 'detain' you."

Sasuke was shocked to hear that term spoken by someone who wasn't an Uchiha. Just how much did Konoha know about his clan? He hadn't even known that technique existed until he had returned with the sharingan himself. "I did not."

Kakashi's response was scathing and heavy with sarcasm. "Oh, your version was weaker than Itachi's, but it was the same technique. I should know since he used it on me not too long ago. My question is how you did it without having the Mangekyou sharingan."

A chill swept over him. So it was true, then. He had known something had happened to Itachi the moment he saw him with the sharingan for the first time. Once he learned of the mangkeyou he had wondered, but he hadn't wanted to believe it. He still didn't. But he knew a real Tsukuyomi could only be performed by someone with the mangekyou sharingan and there was only one way to get those eyes. He had come home to find Shisui dead and his brother a stranger. It was so obvious and unthinkable. What the hell had Itachi done? And why? There was no need for the mangekyou sharingan. Itachi had told him that himself. Any sharingan could be trained to perform a genjutsu nearly as strong as the real Tsukuyomi without making that sacrifice. Itachi had told him that and he had verified it for himself. Was that the real reason Itachi had told him? So he wouldn't make the same mistake? Using the mangekyou led to blindness. If Itachi had those eyes he had not only murdered his best friend, he had cut his life as a shinobi in half. What could have possibly driven him to do that? He clenched his fists against a sudden wave of nausea. He had been secretly proud of himself for recognizing that Itachi couldn't be trusted. He'd had no idea how bad things really were.

"Well?"

Sasuke shot him a venomous glare. "Unless you want to explain to me how you managed to survive a real Tsukuyomi, I have nothing to say to you. Touch me again and I will consider it an attack. Then you won't just be making a liar out of Naruto, you'll be making one out of your own Hokage as well." Kakashi's eyebrow shot up, but he made no move to stop him this time. He followed him instead.

"Tsunade brought me out of the Tsukuyomi," Kakashi informed him. His tone was utterly casual, as if he hadn't been coldly intimidating just a moment ago. "I survived it in the first place because I was only using my left eye when Itachi performed it on me. I would have used this eye with you if I had realized you intended to use the sharingan this time. I thought I would have to force you to use it."

Sasuke sent him a reluctant look. He promptly recoiled, stumbling away. He couldn't stop the horror and outrage from showing on his face. What had the man done? Stolen from the dead? Kakashi's left eye was an implanted sharingan. His first instinct was to tear it out and destroy it by any means necessary. Kakashi must have read his intention because he lifted a hand to forestall him.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Kakashi said, in a quiet and sober voice. "This eye was a gift from my former teammate, Uchiha Obito. I received it years before your clan left Konoha. I won't claim the clan elders were happy with Obito's decision, but they didn't contest it."

He was the one Sasuke had heard rumors about, then. The last Uchiha prior to Itachi to have developed the sharingan at such a young age. He might have been the clan heir instead of Itachi if he had survived. Instead the only legacy he had left behind was now staring at him out of the face of a Konoha shinobi. How the clan must hate that this man still lived. He wondered if that had anything to do with Itachi's decision to use the Tsukuyomi on him, or if Kakashi had intentionally confronted Itachi because he had the only sharingan in the village. Sasuke dropped his eyes. He had no feelings about this. What an Uchiha chose to do with his sharingan before he died was his own choice. No one had the right to contest that. He folded his arms over his chest. Kakashi had answered his questions. He now knew why the man had spoken so freely about things that were supposed to be clan secrets. "What I used on you was not Tsukuyomi. It was as close as one can get to it without having the mangekyou sharingan, but anyone with a normal sharingan can do it."

"Do you really believe that?"

His lips twitched as he corrected himself, "Any Uchiha with a normal sharingan." It was no wonder Kakashi kept the eye covered. Without Uchiha blood just using it would be a huge drain on his chakra. "Naruto said you knew a lot of techniques. Did you copy them with the sharingan?"

"They do call me Sharingan Kakashi, or the Copy-Nin."

Sasuke let out a disgusted breath. Naruto could have mentioned that.

"Who taught you to perform that level of genjutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"No one. I heard that it was possible to do, so I practiced until I could. The only other person I've used it on was the jounin Sand assigned to teach me. Once was enough for him."

"Gotou." There was audible derision in Kakashi's voice. "The one who tried to teach you wind release."

"And earth," Sasuke admitted. "I didn't take to that, either."

Kakashi snorted but didn't offer to explain what he found so amusing. He waited until they broke from the forest before speaking again. "Instead of going back to Naruto's apartment, let me show you to the tower. I know you haven't been there yet, and Naruto will be relieved to see you."

Sasuke sent him a suspicious look. Kakashi's forehead protector was once again slanted to cover his left eye. In retrospect he should have wondered why the man kept it covered. "What tower?"

"The Hokage tower," Kakashi smiled, his visible eye curving. "That's where Naruto will be spending most of his time if he ever gets the promotion he's been aiming for."

Implying that he might not get it, or that it wouldn't happen as quickly as he hoped? Sasuke considered going along with him, but he didn't particularly want to see the Hokage again so soon. Besides, he'd had more than enough company for one morning. "I'm going back to the apartment."

"Alright, then," Kakashi sighed. "I'll take my leave here, then. One thing before I go, though. Don't ever use that genjutsu on Naruto."

There was no point using it on Naruto since he was more than willing to engage him in a direct fight. He was curious why Kakashi felt the need to warn him, though. "Why?"

Kakashi smirked. "Let's just say the Hokage wouldn't like it."

All the more reason to do it if he were interested in breaking their terms. Luckily for them he wasn't. Kakashi took off, and he made his way alone back to the apartment. He was relieved when no one approached him. He didn't want to deal with any more of these people without Naruto around. He had no idea what was expected from him. The Hokage had told him he was only obligated to live and refrain from attacking others. Obviously he was also obligated to interact with shinobi like Kakashi, who for all his annoying personality quirks was only following his leader's orders. So long as Kakashi stopped trying to manhandle him he supposed he would get used to his manner eventually. He was his superior in terms of skill and rank. But he was also the closest thing to an Uchiha this village had. Having someone with an implanted sharingan treat him that way was twice as infuriating. If Kakashi had a personal grudge against him because of Itachi then he should take that up with the Hokage. He had made a name for himself with just one of the eyes so he should know the potential Sasuke had. Maybe he did know. That could be the very reason the Hokage had sent him to test him. Sasuke would have to voice his suspicions to Naruto. If the Hokage planned to use Kakashi the same way the clan had used his jounin instructor then it would be up to Naruto to keep the man out of their training. Whether or not Naruto could manage that remained to be seen. The point was to see just how much Naruto valued keeping his word. Between Naruto's stubbornness and his idealistic morality, Sasuke was sure he would fight to keep his promise. If not, then at least he would know Naruto wasn't nearly as honorable as he pretended to be.

It was only when Sasuke arrived outside the door of Naruto's apartment that he realized he didn't have a key. He could use a senbon to pick the lock, but he hadn't studied Naruto's wards well enough to risk it. He jumped to the roof instead. It was warm from the sun. He sat comfortably for a while, watching the occasional shinobi hurry along the rooftops in the distance. Two children ran past him at one point. They wore forehead protectors but they clung to the roof so clumsily they couldn't have been genin for long. Aside from pulling up when they stumbled around him, they didn't pay him any attention. He wondered what sort of missions they did. The smaller one might have been eleven, but the other had to be at least thirteen. Yet they were definitely children, as excited and careless as civilians. He watched them darting around in the distance, playing some sort of game, until the younger one almost fell off a rooftop. Then they dropped out of sight. To Sasuke they epitomized what he had seen while walking through the village yesterday. Konoha was too quiet, seemingly carefree to the point of complacency. It wasn't just the civilians who struck him that way. Even the shinobi seemed too casual and relaxed. Weren't they at war with Sound and Mist? He could only assume they weren't. This certainly didn't feel like a village in the middle of an open war. Perhaps the conflict Naruto and his jounin instructor had mentioned were long-standing threats rather than open hostilities.

After an hour he accepted that Naruto wouldn't be back any time soon. His chakra had recovered enough for him to dismantle Naruto's wards, but he didn't want to. If they were attuned to Naruto's chakra he wouldn't be able to fix them afterward. As far as he knew Naruto hadn't made any plans for them today, so he decided to make some of his own. He nipped his thumb and summoned Terra. The little snake immediately slithered off his lap to stretch out along the warm rooftop. Sasuke watched in amusement as he twisted and rolled before finally settling on his belly. Fully uncoiled the snake wasn't much longer than his arm. He lay back himself, turning onto his side so Terra wouldn't have to lift his head to see him. "Are you hungry?"

"Always," Terra hissed. There wasn't so much as a tiny bulge beneath his scales, evidence that he hadn't eaten in days. There were only so many creatures small enough for him to swallow whole and he disdained most of them. Sasuke still didn't know what his usual diet consisted of.

"Three reverse summons and I'll reward you."

"Your weapons?" Terra asked suspiciously.

"That can wait."

The snake rose to look at him more closely. "What's wrong with your eye?"

Of course he would notice that. His periphery vision was a little blurry on the right side, but it was already starting to clear up. "Genjutsu."

"A waste of chakra," Terra said contemptuously.

"I know." He rose to a crouch and offered a hand down to the snake. "Are you game?" Terra didn't bother to answer, merely slithering up his arm to coil loosely around his neck. He jumped down to the balcony outside Naruto's door. "First, I need in there." He set the snake down, watching as it masked its chakra and reduced its size. Unlike Naruto's toad, Terra had no qualms about making himself smaller. He was little more than a silver hair when he slipped under the door. Sasuke braced himself. He severely disliked being summoned, but it was the best way to get into a protected place without being noticed. He had yet to encounter a ward that could detect a well-masked summon, and unlike teleportations it didn't require any chakra use on his part. It was trusting a summon not to call him of its own accord that he had difficulty with. So far Terra hadn't abused the privilege.

As soon as he arrived in the apartment he unpacked most of his equipment. He would clean it when he got back. Naruto had left his bag in the livingroom, so he used the scroll he had stored the fern in to leave a note for him in case he came back here rather than teleporting directly to him. There was only one empty scroll in the bag when he put it over his shoulder and looked around for Terra. He found the snake on the bookshelf, hanging down from a higher shelf to stare at the photographs.

"The Leaf hitai-ate doesn't look any better on you than the Sand one did," Terra remarked. "You shouldn't let yourself be branded that way."

Sasuke knew his summon felt the same way about the clan symbol he wore on his back. All snakes were solitary by nature, but Terra took it to the extremes. "It doesn't matter. I want you to go back to the spot where I summoned you last night and bring me there." The snake's coils clumped strangely as it curled in on itself and vanished. Sasuke had never determined whether the contortions were to make up for the snake's lack of hands or if pulling itself into a knot simply made it easier to teleport itself. Terra was the only snake summon he had met that could transport itself at all, so he didn't question how he managed to do it. The summon was more jarring this time because of the distance. When he arrived he nearly tipped off the limb and into the pit. He knew Terra had done that intentionally. He was a snake, after all.

There were only a few snakes in the pit today, all male from the looks of them. That meant the pit was used for resting through the day as well as mating. He dropped to the ground, startling them awake. They coiled and hissed warningly at him. He waited for one to strike and caught it behind the jaw. He quickly took it into the tree before the others could get worked up enough to follow or flee. If they regularly used this spot it would save him a lot of time hunting for them. He gathered up his summon and moved a safe distance away. Once he had settled on a thick root that rose above the brush, he shook Terra off his left arm so he could get a kunai. The little summon was hissing and flicking his tongue out tauntingly at the larger snake. His intended prey flicked back at him and he snapped his head forward to catch the tip of its exposed tongue.

Sasuke scowled, releasing the dead snake so the summon could slither smugly over its head. "And you complain about me wasting your venom."

"You said you didn't need any right now," Terra reminded him. He butted against the jaw, peeking into the mouth when Sasuke opened it for him. "They eat well here."

"Probably a squirrel or two. This forest is full of them."

"How bland."

"I'll cut around it," Sasuke said drolly. Aside from the meat, the only parts Terra was interested in were the venom sacks and the lungs. The lungs had no particular nutritional value that Sasuke was aware of so he didn't understand why his summon liked them so much. He just did. Sasuke slipped the kunai into the dead snake's mouth, pressing lightly against the back of its fangs. Terra unhinged his jaws, his tongue flicking out to catch any drops that missed his gaping mouth. The little summon looked so ridiculous that Sasuke was almost glad when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him. Naruto had wanted to meet his summon and this was the best time to do so. Terra must have caught Naruto's scent back at the apartment because he didn't so much as flick the tip of his tail at the sudden arrival.

"Sa-" Naruto cut himself off mid-rant, his eyes dropping and then widening comically. He gaped for a moment before letting out a startled laugh. "You weren't kidding?"

"I never kid about summons." Or anything else, for that matter. He looked from Naruto to the gaping mouth that was the only thing visible of his summon's head. "Naruto, this is Terra. My best summon," he said, for Terra's benefit. "Terra, this is Naruto. Son of the Hokage and my lover." Naruto choked and blushed bright red at that simple factual statement. The tip of Terra's tail jerked, but it wasn't until he had milked the last few drops of venom that the summon reacted.

Terra darted out of the snake's mouth, slithering up Sasuke's arm and rising until they were at eye level with each other. "How did this happen?" he demanded in a dangerous hiss.

"Politics," Sasuke smirked. Naruto was looking distinctly uncomfortable. And guilty. "Itachi infiltrated this village. The clan had no choice but to declare a truce or risk retaliation. Itachi is now officially a missing-nin and I'm dead as far as the clan is concerned. My father gave me to Konoha."

"And they decided to keep you," Terra finished, arching his neck to look over at Naruto. "Are you letting them?"

"Yes."

"Can I bite him?" Terra asked, flicking his tongue at Naruto. When he saw the way Naruto winced away, he did it again, adding an eager hiss.

"No," Sasuke said firmly. He didn't bother to hide his amusement. Naruto had no doubt rushed out here intent on lecturing him for coming to this forest alone. That was the last thing on his mind now. "I don't want you to bite him. He's my lover."

Terra let out a disgusted hiss and rounded on him. "You can do better."

"Hey!" Naruto yelped. "Don't you go giving him any ideas!"

"He reeks of toad," Terra said haughtily. He flicked his tongue at Naruto again. "Snakes eat toads."

Terra would sooner eat his own tail than swallow a toad, but Naruto didn't know that. Sasuke snorted at the heated glares the two were exchanging. He lifted the dead snake, reminding Terra of his empty stomach. "There's a stream nearby where I can prepare this." He stood and caught Naruto's eye. "You did say you wanted to meet him. Don't blame me if you dislike my summon as much as I dislike yours." Naruto appeared taken aback by that. He walked past him, heading in the direction of the stream.

"Wait," Naruto blurted, catching up to him quickly. "Are you saying you don't like Gamakichi? Why not? Everyone likes Gamakichi. He's one of the friendliest summons I've got!"

Which was precisely the problem. "He talks too much. I don't want to be left alone with him again. I can't concentrate with constant interruptions."

Naruto grumbled and sent him a reproachful look. "I only summoned him because I didn't think you'd want to be left with a bunshin."

"I don't need to be left with anything," Sasuke said flatly. "But if you insist, I'd rather have a bunshin. At least then I wouldn't have to deal with your people on my own."

Naruto jumped at that, instantly defensive. "I wanted to be there for Kakashi's test but my dad wouldn't let me. He made me do paperwork! Believe me, I would much rather have been with you than stuck in that office all morning. Even after Kakashi came back he wouldn't let me go check on you until I finished sorting through the scrolls. That's the only reason it took me so long."

"And Sakura?" He shot him a dark glare. "Why did you tell her about my neck? Were you bragging about it?" Naruto might consider hickies something worth showing off, but he certainly didn't.

"No!" Naruto blushed, though his expression remained pleading and earnest. "I didn't say anything about that to her. I just mentioned that we sparred a little last night and you had some bruises I wished I could heal for you. I swear, that's all I said. If it seemed like she knew more it's only because she knows how obsessed with you I am."

"How obsessed?" asked Terra.

"Stay out of this," Sasuke sighed. He shifted the little snake so its head was on his other shoulder. Naruto was making a face at the summon. He quickly refocused his attention. "You shouldn't have sent her to me without warning me first. I went to that training ground to train, not to be accosted by one of your friends. She tried to pick a fight with me," he explained, before Naruto could argue with his word choice. "Whether her intention was to prove her abilities or to test mine, she was set to attack me when Kakashi showed up. I would have had no choice but to use the sharingan on her or flee. Don't place me in that position again. If she's important to you, then take better care of her."

"I should have seen that coming," Naruto admitted with a wince. "She's headstrong, so I should have known she'd want to fight with you, especially after I told her we were sparring last night. I'll talk to her. She can break bones as easily as she can heal them, and you're fast enough to cut her up if you had a mind to. I definitely don't want the two of you sparring without some strict ground rules. Thanks for not giving in. She is important to me. I want you two to get along and that'll be a lot easier without a bad first encounter hanging over you."

"Are you really planning to take her on our missions?"

"She said that?" Naruto dropped his eyes with a grimace. "Damn. I hadn't really thought about it yet. We used to talk about doing missions together, but after the exam that all fell apart. It would be great to finally have a three-man team. We couldn't ask for a better medic. But to be honest I get nervous just thinking about doing missions with you. I know you're capable," he insisted, before Sasuke could get insulted. "I'm just worried about how much I'd hover. I want to train with you and just...get used to having you around before I start looking for missions we could do. With Sakura along I wouldn't worry as much about injuries, but we'd make a pretty flaky team with me hovering over both of you. I'm sure it would drive you as crazy as it would Sakura and the last thing I want is to have the two of you teaming up against me."

Sasuke accepted that for the time being. He was more interested in training than he was in missions, at least for now. They reached the stream and walked across the surface. Terra peered over his shoulder at the infant snakes darting along the bank. Some of them were thicker around than he was, but that didn't stop him from flicking his tongue out. He did it again when he caught sight of Naruto watching him. The two of them were in the middle of another glaring session by the time Sasuke reached the rock he had used yesterday. He would have said Terra was too old to be that immature. He wondered if it was an instinctive rivalry. Naruto had warned him not to tell his toads that he summoned snakes. Maybe it was only natural that his snake had such distaste for someone who summoned toads.

He had to cut the dead snake's lower jaw off in order to dig out the venom sacks. He couldn't blame Naruto for his queasy expression. This would have been messy enough with a knife, let alone a kunai. Terra didn't care about the mess. He slithered down to snap up the drained sacks, his tail flicking impatiently as Sasuke finished undressing the kill. By the time Sasuke had fed him the lungs and scraped out the insides, which included two partially digested squirrels, Naruto had turned his back on them. Sasuke took amused pity on him and didn't say anything that might force him to look back. He skinned the snake and cut the meat into thumb-sized chunks. Gathering up the remains, he left Terra to gorge. He dumped the mess into the stream where the fish and snakes joined forces in a feeding frenzy. Once his hands and kunai were clean, he joined Naruto.

"I can totally see why feeding the big ones would be a problem," Naruto said, smiling weakly.

"They aren't as picky since they're big enough to swallow most snakes whole, but they eat a lot more." Sasuke looked at him curiously. "Why haven't you asked me about Kakashi's test? Did he tell you himself?"

Naruto's eyes brightened and he gave a wicked grin. "I almost forgot about that! When he got back to the tower he was so exasperated it took my dad ten minutes before he could get a word out of him. He said you made a complete mockery of his test. What did you do? I've never seen him like that."

"He didn't tell you?"

"No," Naruto huffed. "All he said in front of me was that you passed the test without even taking it, and the next time he sees someone named Gotou he's going to drown him for real. I have no idea what he was talking about. That's when his eye started twitching and my dad took him out of the room. He made me stay behind with the paperwork." Naruto made a face at that before shaking it off. "What the heck did you do to him?"

"Nothing to cause a reaction like that. When he left me he was smirking." He wondered if Kakashi had been putting on a front to confuse Naruto. All he'd gotten from the man was anger and then amusement at his expense. "He said he wouldn't test me again if I passed, and that all I had to do to pass was take his bell. So I used the sharingan to hold him in a genjutsu while I took it from him. He was angry about that. You should have warned me about him." He probably would have still used that genjutsu on him, if only for the chance to try it on a sharingan-holder. But he wouldn't have been as shocked by what Kakashi had to reveal.

Naruto's eyes were wide with disbelief. "You just used a genjutsu on him and took his bell? You didn't fight him or anything? No wonder he's so messed up. The bell test has been a Konoha tradition for I don't even know how long and you just- How long did it take you to get the bell?"

"A minute," Sasuke frowned. He had expected Naruto to apologize for not warning him about Kakashi's history with his clan. That was much more important than some stupid mock test.

"That's hilarious," Naruto laughed. "I can't wait to tell Sakura and Iruka-sensei. They'll get such a kick out of this. No wonder he didn't want to explain in front of me. I can tease him about this forever."

"He was angry," Sasuke repeated.

"I'll bet he was," Naruto grinned. "He was probably hoping you'd hide and give him a real run for it like you did with me last night. Instead you just-"

"Naruto," Sasuke said sharply. "Why didn't you warn me that he had the sharingan? Were you ordered not to tell me?"

"What? No..." Naruto sobered quickly, as if he had only just now noticed Sasuke wasn't as amused as he was. "At first it wasn't my business to tell you, but once you actually met Kakashi I figured you knew the moment you heard his name that he was Sharingan Kakashi. He was famous before the clan ever left Konoha. You mean you didn't know? Didn't the clan ever say anything about him?"

"No," Sasuke muttered. Naruto might not be lying, but he wasn't telling the full truth, either. When he had told him about his obsession, he had mentioned that one of the Anbu had recognized the sharingan, implying that Naruto hadn't recognized it. But he'd known all about Kakashi, so he should have recognized the sharingan the moment Sasuke used it. Had he known he was an Uchiha from the very start? If so, there was no reason to make him believe otherwise. Why lie about it? It didn't change anything. Except now he was wondering about other things Naruto had said that he had accepted on face value. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He was usually much more skeptical.

"And Itachi," Sasuke sighed. "Is there a reason you didn't tell me Kakashi was one of the people he attacked here?"

"Lots of reasons," Naruto admitted quietly, dropping his eyes with a frown. "Mainly because I didn't think you'd want to talk about him. You're here because of what he did, but we don't hold you responsible for that. As far as I know Kakashi wasn't even planning to mention it to you. That's between him and Itachi and has nothing to do with you. If he brought it up, I'm sure it's only because you caught him off guard with your genjutsu. Did you do it before he had a chance to uncover the sharingan?"

"Yes. I didn't know he had a sharingan until he revealed it afterward."

Naruto smiled at him with just a hint of his former enthusiasm. "If he'd known what you were going to do he would have uncovered it from the start. Do you think your technique would have worked against his sharingan?"

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted. "It doesn't work when I use it on my own bunshin, but my chakra is halved then and I'm trying it against my own eyes. He doesn't have Uchiha blood, so I don't know how strong his sharingan is." It had to be fairly strong for him to have survived a Tsukuyomi, but if Itachi hadn't intended to kill him then that didn't mean much. He didn't know what Itachi had been after, so he couldn't guess how much effort he had put into his attack. "I'm sure I would have caught him regardless. I probably wouldn't have been able to take him as deep or keep him under as long, though."

"We'll find out," Naruto grinned. "When he comes looking for a rematch I'm going to have a front row seat."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that. "He gave me his word he wouldn't test me again."

"I'm not talking about another test. I just meant a rematch, fighting and training. My dad pointed out today that Kakashi is the only one here who can train you as far as the sharingan goes. But I'll get to watch from now on, so it won't be too bad."

Sasuke stared blankly at him. Naruto had no concept of the insult he was giving him. There was absolutely nothing lacking in his use of the sharingan. He certainly didn't need someone with a second-hand eye teaching him how to be an Uchiha. This was just the Hokage's way of convincing Naruto to accept Kakashi's involvement in their training and Naruto had fallen for it completely. Could he really be that naive? He wanted to believe that Naruto knew something about Kakashi that he didn't, that he had a valid reason to view the man's involvement as a good thing. Instead all he felt was sinking disappointment. He obviously wasn't the only one who found Naruto easy to manipulate. Naruto was the closest thing to an ally he had in this village and he couldn't even keep him on his side.

"Are you sure you don't want me to bite him?"

Sasuke shot an exasperated glare over his shoulder. Then he groaned. He should have kept an eye on him, should have sat there and hand-fed him if necessary. The little snake was packed so full he could see the individual bulges straining to burst free. It was a wonder he could even move. "Did you eat all of it?"

"I was hungry."

"Obviously," Naruto snorted, his expression torn between a grimace and a grin at the sight of the grotesquely bulging snake.

Terra tried to hiss at him, but all that came out was a meaty belch. Sasuke let out a disgusted sigh. This was his best summon and he looked more like a stuffed sausage than a snake. He dropped into a crouch so Terra wouldn't burst at the seams trying to look up at him. "Go home and digest. The next time I call you, I'll have real work for you to do."

"I should hope so," Terra sniffed. "Uchihas aren't exactly welcome in Konoha. Watch your back. At the first sign of trouble, you're the one they'll blame."

Sasuke released the summon before Terra could say any more. The snake was more than old enough to know all about the clan's break from Konoha. If he was offering information about this village, Sasuke would take him up on that. But not with Naruto standing right behind him. He rose and turned to find Naruto looking upset and defensive. "He's a snake," Sasuke said, as if that explained everything. He had intended it to be a jab for Naruto's uninformative 'Orochimaru did it' explanation last night. He knew his plan had failed when Naruto huffed and relaxed.

"Just as long as you know that's not true. We're the ones who asked for you. Of course you're welcome here. We'd welcome back the entire clan if they were willing. We never wanted them to leave in the first place."

Naruto didn't offer any more than that, so Sasuke didn't ask. He did wonder, though, whether Naruto's 'we' referred to the village as a whole or merely to him and his father. Naruto couldn't have been more than a baby when the clan left, so he would only know what his father had told him. The clan's version of events were bound to be very different.

"Is there somewhere you have to be this afternoon?" asked Sasuke. He had planned to look around for a while, to see if he could find anything useful. But with Terra gone he would have to rely on Naruto to get him back to the apartment or take the long way and walk. He should have done his exploring before feeding the snake.

"I need to talk to some of my friends," Naruto admitted reluctantly. "Sakura isn't the only one curious to meet you. If I don't head them off they're going to end up ambushing us. Don't get me wrong, I want you to meet them. Just not all at once like that."

"Can it wait an hour?"

"Sure," Naruto shrugged. "Why? Do you want to spar a little?"

Sasuke's lips twitched with amusement. Naruto really couldn't tell when he was low on chakra. He supposed he could take that as a compliment. "No. I want to check out some of the sprung traps I spotted last night. You can help." He would wait until they were back in the apartment before telling him he had been locked out this morning. If Naruto guilt-tripped himself as badly over that as he had over locking him out of the bedroom, then he'd be too worried about his mood to bring any of his friends back with him later.

.-.

Sasuke was napping on the couch when Naruto teleported into the livingroom. He tensed at the sudden arrival and then frowned in annoyance. Naruto looked far too happy for someone who had slunk out of here like a whipped dog just a few hours ago. It wasn't natural for a person to change moods as easily and completely as he did. Naruto looked at him expectantly, obviously waiting for him to ask why he was so excited. Sasuke reluctantly sat up. "Does everyone in this village teleport as much as you do?"

"Only chunin and up, and only if they're in a hurry," Naruto said cheerfully. "Guess what!"

"What?" Sasuke muttered.

"You're going to the Academy tomorrow."

"The pregenin Academy?" Sasuke asked quietly. Either Naruto was oblivious to his dangerous tone or he had been expecting it.

"That's the one," Naruto grinned. "I have to put in a shift in the mission room in the morning. My dad does that a few days a week and he likes me to sit in on it with him. Says it's good practice. But there aren't any classes tomorrow, so Iruka-sensei offered to tell you about the ranks while I'm busy out front. You'll like him, everyone does. He already likes you. I told him you wanted to know about the cutoffs and he went right into lecture-mode on me for not knowing enough to explain it to you myself. He can tell you all about the way we do things here, anything you want to know."

"I'd like that," Sasuke admitted. He might change his mind after meeting the man, but the information he had to offer would be worth it even if he proved to be another Kakashi.

"I thought you would." He came over to sit beside him with a small satisfied smile. "He'll also talk to you about Kyuubi and the Uchiha clan leaving. My dad wanted Kakashi to be the one to tell you about that, but Iruka-sensei is a much better choice. He was just a kid at the time, so he saw it from both sides. Once you know all about it, that will be one less topic for us to stumble around. It's hard to talk about much of anything without getting into that."

Sasuke had noticed that himself. Naruto had done well to keep his word, so he supposed he should reward him. "Are you hungry?"

"Always."

A wry smile pulled at Sasuke's mouth. Naruto had done more to earn a feeding than the greedy summon he was unwittingly echoing. "I'll fix us something."

Naruto hovered around the kitchen until Sasuke asked him to wipe down his weapons just to get him out of the way. Having his hands busy didn't stop his mouth from running freely. Not knowing any of the people he was talking about, Sasuke largely ignored him. It wasn't the comfortable silence he would have preferred, but he supposed he could get used to this. He phased him out until he started talking about the drugs and food pills one of his friend's family made.

"You don't use those, do you?" he asked, sending a sharp look over his shoulder at him.

"Not if I can help it," Naruto grimaced. "The crash isn't worth it for me. Sakura tried her hand at some energy pills for me when I was burning myself out with training. I was sleeping twelve hours a day and dragging for another four. I couldn't eat enough to make up for what I was burning. But those pills of hers were the nastiest things I've ever tasted. I decided I'd rather starve in my sleep than tear up my insides trying to digest those things. I don't know how Choji does it. He swears the ones he eats taste great, but he's skin and bones by the time the rush wears off. Choji's a big guy, so that's saying a lot."

"I've never used supplements," Sasuke admitted. "To me it's no different from intentionally poisoning yourself."

"The ones we use in Konoha aren't that bad. The standard ones are really useful if you just need a quick boost, and they're weak enough that they don't cause too much damage. It's the special food pills you have to watch out for. Choji's are specially designed for members of his clan because they're the only ones big enough to burn that much fat and survive."

"Another clan? How many are there in this village?"

"Oh," Naruto winced. "No, I don't really consider the Akimichis a clan, not the way you're thinking. I mean they are technically a clan since they have a clan head that speaks for the family, but they don't isolate themselves. You could call any family that passes unique skills down to each generation a clan if you wanted to. All of the big families have a representative to speak for them. But they're not clans in the traditional sense. We only have two that you'd consider clans, the Hyuuga clan and the Aburame clan. They're very old fashioned and mostly keep to themselves. They resent any 'outside interference' and don't even like their members to interact with people outside the clan. They're the two I'm working on the hardest. The Aburames are really quiet, so I haven't had much luck with them so far. I have two friends in the Hyuuga clan, though. Neji and his cousin. With them on my side we can just wait and outlive their elders if we have to. My dad says when people reach a certain age it's not even worth trying to change their ways. All we can do is keep an eye on them, limit their influence on the younger generations, and put up with their stubborn close-mindedness."

"That's easier said than done when they have ultimate authority over the entire clan." His father had shown that to him the few times he had openly butted heads with the elders. It wasn't enough for the third generation to be open to change when the second was still controlled by the first. That wasn't only true for clans, either. Sand had the same problem with their elderly Kage.

"I know. But there are more of us than there are of them. Once my generation starts having kids we'll double that. We're going to win out in the end," Naruto said confidently. "It's only a matter of time."

He was talking about nothing less than a revolution. Sasuke doubted it would go as smoothly as he hoped. Clan rules and traditions were written in blood. Rather than rally around the outspoken youths who sided with Naruto, a clan was more likely to shun them as traitors and close ranks against them. Being out-numbered would simply make the remainder cling even tighter to the old ways. His own clan was a perfect example of that.

As they ate, Naruto continued to talk about the different backgrounds each of his closest friends had. He occasionally referred to them as clans and eventually he stopped adding reminders that he didn't mean that in the 'traditional' sense. Sasuke knew he was stumbling around that distinction to avoid insulting him. Since he was proud to be a member of his clan, he ignored it for the most part. He added little to the conversation as he picked at his food. His mind was on what he would learn about the clan tomorrow and what, if anything, that would explain about Itachi. He was old enough to have been an active shinobi when the clan left Konoha. Perhaps growing up here was what had left him ripe to turn against the clan. Sasuke couldn't see a single incident causing Itachi to change that much. The seed must have been there all along just waiting for something to make it grow.

"Sasuke? Do you not like your own cooking?"

He glanced up in surprise to find Naruto smiling at him over his own empty plate. He took a quick bite and admitted, "The sauce isn't thick enough and it's too sweet."

"The sauce is what I liked about it," Naruto snorted. "It really covered up the vegetables. The tofu is awful, though. I shouldn't have let that woman talk me into buying it."

"I didn't cook it long enough to absorb the flavor. I'll prep it in advance next time." It was his own fault for not paying more attention to the food Naruto had purchased. Mixing up ingredients to make a well-balanced meal was easy in theory but learning to prepare it would take some work. There was another block and a half of tofu in the refrigerator for him to experiment with. He'd get it right eventually. "If nothing else I can try frying it. In thinner strips the lack of flavor won't be as noticeable."

"If you cook it, I'll eat it. Just don't ask me to try it raw. I know that woman said it's good in salads, but I draw the line at raw vegetables. When it comes to food that isn't ramen, I'm a carnivore at heart. I'd take snake over some rubbery meat substitute any day."

"You did eat quite a bit of that for someone with a fear of snakes."

"It's not a fear," Naruto insisted, "just a...strong dislike. They have a serious creep factor. Even if I didn't automatically connect them to Orochimaru, they're still slithering sneaky things with those flicking forked tongues and slit eyes." He gave an exaggerated shiver of revulsion. "You have to admit they're about as evil-looking as you can get."

Although Naruto was playing it up a bit too much, Sasuke did find it amusing. "Your eyes were red and slitted when you were accessing your demon's chakra. It was very snake-like." Naruto immediately took offense at that, as he had known he would.

"That was not snake-like! They're more like angry cat eyes. And they're only red because Kyuubi is and his chakra is, too. I mean, yeah, it's a little evil-looking, but it's demonic chakra. What do you expect it to look like? He's a fox demon, so when I channel him I come out looking like some rabid fox. I know. But that's nothing like a snake. I've seen Orochimaru do the snake thing, with the long slithering tongue and the slit yellow eyes. That's creepy as hell, and it's nothing like what I do."

"If you say so," Sasuke drawled. "At least you're channeling a fox rather than a toad."

Naruto started to say something only to bite his lip. He dropped his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. When he spoke it was in a small reluctant voice. "My dad does that. And his eyes do turn yellow." His eyes flashed up defensively. "But they're not slitted! It doesn't look snake-like at all."

"But you don't do that?"

Naruto dropped his eyes again, this time with a frown. "Not yet. I'm hoping I won't have to. I could get more with Kyuubi than I ever could with toads. That was my dad's path, passed on from Jiraiya. I have my own." His eyes flicked back up, suddenly radiating confidence. "Your summon was right about one thing. Snakes do eat toads. But foxes kill snakes."

"Is that a threat?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Naruto laughed. "You might summon snakes, but as far as I'm concerned you're more like a cat than a reptile. Solitary and stubborn and too curious for your own good. With you and Kyuubi on my side our kids will never have the threat of Orochimaru hanging over their heads."

Since they were talking about a Kage-level shinobi Sasuke didn't see where he would be much help. It was nice to know he would be included in Naruto's plans, though. That meant Naruto was no longer viewing him solely as a bed-warmer. "Is Kyuubi on your side?" From what little he'd heard about demons he had thought they were more like captive energy sources than cooperative entities. That was one of the reasons the hosts they were sealed in continued to be feared - there was always the risk that the captive would escape.

"Not at the moment," Naruto said reluctantly. "I don't want to talk about that right now. I'm in a good mood and I want to keep it that way. Let's talk about you. I've told you all about my friends. Tell me about yours."

"I don't have any," Sasuke said flatly. "I could tell you my appraisals of the people I've worked more than once with, but that would probably interest Ibiki more than it would you." He could have told him a few things about the boys who had made up the team Naruto's squad had killed, but he didn't feel like sending him into another guilty fit. "I can tell you who Gotou is," he offered, when Naruto looked disappointed.

"The guy Kakashi wants to drown?" Naruto perked up. "Sure!"

"You've already heard about him. He's the jounin that Sand assigned to me. He's afraid of Gaara, water, and the sharingan. He has no concept of loyalty or sacrifice. He's a pawn, and not a very useful one at that."

Naruto blinked for a moment before making a face at him. "You really didn't like your instructor, huh? That's a pretty low appraisal. I was hoping to hear about someone you liked. Isn't there anyone you worked with that you'd like to see again? Or a clan member that you're going to miss seeing all the time?"

The only people he would miss were members of his immediate family, namely his mother. That was none of Naruto's business. "There was a pair of Mist shinobi I'd like to see again. They attacked me while I was lying in wait for a target. I'd like to know why they decided not to kill me. They had the look of missing-nin, though, so they're probably dead by now."

"Well, that's depressing." Naruto let out a weak laugh. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about you right now. If a brush with some missing-nin is your idea of a fond memory then I don't think I'm ready to hear the bad ones. My worst memory is the chunin exam. That probably won't compare to yours and I really do want to keep my good mood."

His worst memory was learning the katon jutsu. Week after week of fear and failure. He had hidden his fear of water for almost three years before realizing anyone could have trained him out of it had he simply admitted it. Knowing that made the memory even worse. He didn't like to think about it. Talking about it certainly wouldn't put him in a good mood. "What's your fondest memory?"

"Joining the Academy," Naruto said instantly. "It was my first chance to get to know all of the kids my age. It took me a little while to make friends, but once I did those were the best years of my life. What's yours?"

"Finishing my first mission," Sasuke smirked. The difference between them couldn't have been more blatant. "The members of the retrieval team were my father's age. I was so proud of the way they looked at me with fear and respect. I had never gotten that from an adult, let alone trained shinobi. It took a few years before I realized that reaction had more to do with my being an Uchiha than with anything I actually did on my missions." If it hadn't been for his father his arrogance would have gotten completely out of hand.

"The Uchiha clan does have a reputation. I'm surprised you don't have one, though. I'd never heard your name anywhere before Gaara gave it to me."

"That's because I never gave my name. My employers were hiring an Uchiha. It didn't matter which one they got. Itachi is the only Uchiha anyone ever asked for by name."

"I guess it was safer for you that way. It doesn't seem fair, though." Naruto sighed and smiled apologetically. "Everyone's going to know your name before long. We'll have to be careful. If any of the people who used to hire you realize you're in Konoha they might send their requests here. I'm not about to share you with other villages."

"You said Konoha turns down the sort of requests the clan takes, so I doubt there will be any conflict due to my being here." If anyone did recognize him and care about where he was now, it would be Sound worrying about what information he might have to share. "I haven't done a mission in years. The only ones likely to remember me are Sound and Mist, and Konoha doesn't deal with them anyway."

"We still deal with Mist," Naruto said, wrinkling his nose. "They have such a bad track record with missing nin that we have to deal with them. We just don't like to."

Sasuke took their dishes to the sink and began cleaning up. Naruto followed him.

"You cooked, so I'll do the dishes," said Naruto.

"You're offering to clean?"

Naruto ignored his skeptical tone. "We have to get up early in the morning, so we should turn in soon."

Considering it was barely evening now, Sasuke could see exactly where Naruto was going with this. He took the dish liquid out of Naruto's hand so he was forced to look at him. His eyes were far too easy to read. "I'll 'turn in' with you if I can sleep on the couch afterward. Alone."

Naruto looked torn, and a little confused. "I don't think it's right to use sex as a bargaining point..."

"I do." Naruto did as well or he would never have propositioned him in the first place. He handed the bottle back and turned to gather the weapons Naruto had pushed to the side of the table earlier. "Think about it while you're doing the dishes. I'll be in the livingroom."

Sasuke sat on the floor in front of the couch. The items he had picked up in the forest were spread out on the table. He set his weapons aside and looked over the curiosities he had found. Naruto hadn't understood why he wanted things he had no idea how to use. He hadn't been able to explain why that made them especially attractive. Because he didn't know what their original function had been he was free to use them however he liked. This was one of his favorite aspects of being a shinobi. Although he was limited in what he could actually do, and even more limited in what he could do well, there were no limits to what he could conceive of. Just looking around that forest gave him as many ideas as a mission might have. A larger variety of shinobi had passed through that forest than he had ever fought himself. He didn't need to fight those strangers in order to learn from them. Whether or not anything he picked up had a practical application in his own ninjutsu didn't matter. Keeping his mind open to new possibilities was just as important as improving on his known weaknesses. He had learned that lesson very early. His missions had been straight-forward with the plan of attack clearly outlined for him in advance. All he'd had to do was follow his orders precisely. But none of that helped when he had encountered unknown shinobi on his way to and from those missions. He'd had to develop his own tactics to deal with the unexpected. While he couldn't say he was particularly quick at thinking on his feet, he did enjoy it.

He was looking at an odd double kunai when Naruto quietly joined him. He didn't look up. It didn't matter to him which option Naruto had chosen. He had made the offer to see how Naruto would react to being forced to choose one or the other. Technically he could have both. Sasuke had agreed to that from the start and wouldn't refuse if Naruto called on him to keep his part of their deal. Naruto was the one who had decided to give him a choice in the matter. He was curious to see how long that would last once Naruto realized what it really meant. He could easily choose to reap the benefits of this situation without offering anything in return.

"A double-sided weapon might be useful against my clones," Naruto offered quietly. "But only if you learn to use it without cutting yourself."

"Maybe." The circle was small enough to grip comfortably, but the blades were too close together. A windmill shuriken would be far more practical if the point was to wield multiple blades one-handed. As far as he could tell the weapon had been used to set off a trap, most likely from a distance. He hadn't found any chakra wire on the scene, so he had to assume it had either been thrown or released from a larger weapon of some kind. As deeply as it had bitten into the tree there had to have been considerable force involved, possibly even wind chakra. His instructor had demonstrated the cutting power of that often enough.

"What's so special about these?" Naruto asked, lifting one of the small curved blades they had found strung along a thick log. "Lots of people wrap spiked chains around logs and boulders when they're setting up traps."

"These come apart," Sasuke pointed out. He picked up one of the blades, running a finger along the concave groove cut into the edge of the small circle at its base. "You can string them securely or hold them to the wire with chakra to be released at will." That they had been used on a spring trap seemed wasteful to him. He had to wonder about a shinobi who would throw them away as if they had no more value than barbs strewn along the ground. They should have at least been rigged to release if the log were spotted and cut down.

"Sasuke?" Naruto looked so determined and noble that Sasuke immediately knew what he was going to say. "If you want a night away from me, all you have to do is ask. You don't need to have sex with me in order to get it. I know I'm clingy, so I understand why you'd want a break from me. When you need some space, just tell me. I'm already getting what I want the most just by having you here."

"You're a push-over," Sasuke stated. "It's very unattractive." In an instant Naruto's noble self-sacrificing expression was replaced by a scowl. That looked much better on him. "If we don't sleep together and we don't have sex, then having me here will be no different from having one of those friends of yours move in with you. Don't tell me you could be satisfied with that. You wouldn't have asked me to be your lover if all you wanted was a roommate."

"I don't get you," Naruto groaned. "I'm trying to be considerate of your feelings and you're throwing it in my face? What do you want me to do?"

"Be honest. I've seen enough of your stubbornness to know you're not weak-willed. Stop acting like you are. I detest weak-willed people."

"What, then? You want me to be an inconsiderate jerk?"

"Do I have to pick one extreme or the other?" His tone wasn't nearly as sarcastic as Naruto's had been. "Find a comfortable middle ground. Pushing for what you want won't make you a jerk so long as you don't attempt to force me. Likewise, conceding when I'm reluctant won't make you weak. I wanted to sleep alone last night but I decided not to ask because you didn't force me to have sex with you when I was reluctant to do so. Tonight I wouldn't mind having sex with you because it will leave me free to sleep alone without feeling that I'm not fulfilling my part of our deal. You're the one who said being lovers was about compromise. Have you changed your mind about that?"

"No." Naruto's scowl faded into a perplexed frown. "You told your summon we were lovers. I don't know why you did that, but I liked hearing you say it. I don't want you to think of yourself as a whore who has to have sex with me in order to earn privileges. I never saw it that way and I never will. I told you from the start that so long as you stay with me you won't lose anything whether we have sex or not."

"You gave me that out so that if I didn't like sex I wouldn't have to do it anymore. We know that isn't an issue now. As for what I told Terra, it was necessary. He was bound to smell you on me. If he knew I let myself be coerced into this he would lose all respect for me. Whether I agree with your definition or not, most people will assume we're lovers. I'd rather my summon believe the same."

"Then you still see it as-"

"Of course," Sasuke said firmly. "You can't convince me otherwise. That doesn't mean I won't claim you as my lover. As far as Terra is concerned, you being my lover means I'm responsible for you. He may not agree with my choice, but he won't attack you or yours without my express permission. Honestly, I'd rather have you as my lover than my keeper. If you remove sex from the equation you'll be no different from your father, just another gaoler to watch me and make sure I adhere to the conditions set for me. I could live with that, but I seriously doubt you could without resenting me for not giving what you yourself decided you could do without. Think carefully before you make that choice. I agreed to stay with you regardless. Are you really prepared to live in abstinence indefinitely?" Naruto couldn't even go one night without sulking and feeling rejected. Sasuke couldn't imagine himself having the patience to tolerate a week of him acting that way, let alone years.

"I sure as hell don't want you thinking of me the same way you think of my father," Naruto grimaced. "That's just disturbing. On multiple levels. And, no, I don't want to give up sex with you now that I know you can enjoy it as much as I do. Physically," he acknowledged, with a wry smile. "If we had never done it I could have been content to go without, telling myself it's better to hope we will someday than to do it now and find out you're one of those people who just doesn't like it. Now it's too late for that. I've had a taste and now I'm addicted." He admitted that without shame and with only a little visible embarrassment. "I can't give it up altogether. What I can do is reign in my desires for your sake. If you're willing to have sex with me tonight I'd love to take you up on that offer. But you don't have to. You won't ever have to. That's all I was trying to say. Compromise doesn't mean you have to give me one or the other each time in order to be fair. It just means I let you have your way as often as you let me have mine. I know you held me last night to make me happy. I don't mind leaving you alone tonight to make you happy."

They were right back where they had started, Sasuke realized with a heavy dose of exasperation. For someone biased against rigid clans, Naruto was very set in his ways. He was confident he had it all figured out. Arguing with him was pointless. Sasuke couldn't explain how unappealing it was for him to imagine living with someone who tiptoed around him out of fear of being rejected. He wouldn't have wanted a wife that meek. How Naruto could think he would be 'happy' with a male lover who behaved that way was beyond him. What Naruto considered being 'considerate' he considered being a total pushover. He would take advantage of it, though. He'd be a fool not to.

"It's up to you," Sasuke said. If Naruto was sulking and resentful in the morning he would just do his best to ignore it. He had made an offer. Naruto was the one turning him down. That was strangely ironic. He had assumed it would be the other way around.

"Are you going to clean these?" Naruto asked, in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

"Only if I decide to keep them." Since they were obviously finished discussing their relationship, Sasuke turned his attention back to the weapons. The smaller pieces were corroded, most of them having been on the bottom of the fallen log. As thin as they were, he would have to be very careful in cleaning them if he decided it was worth it.

"We could probably find some new ones here in Konoha, or order some specially made if they didn't originate here."

"There's no need for that." He doubted he would use them often enough to justify getting new ones made when these were still serviceable. If Naruto was eager to spend money to outfit him, there were other things he would rather have. "The next time you stock up on equipment you can get me a supply of senbon and chakra wire. Those are things I take for granted that you don't have much of."

"I'll get some," Naruto promised. "I only use chakra wire for traps, that's why I don't have much. Senbon I've never really used at all. The ones I do have are ones I've been hit with, that I didn't have time to remove until later." He gave a sheepish smile. "It's been a few years since I've been hit with one, so that's not as bad as it sounds."

That explained why he only had a few of them. "Do you rely mainly on taijutsu and ninjutsu, then?"

"Yeah. I'm good at catching people off guard, but if I have a choice I prefer upfront one-on-one fights. I'm a heavy-hitter so I'd rather single out the strongest opponent. I know with my chakra I could use bunshin to thin the ranks in a big fight, it's just not my preferred fighting style. I'd only do that if I were following someone else's strategy. Like I said, I've mostly done solo missions. The biggest battle I've taken part in was against your team and that doesn't really count since I didn't get to do much. We didn't know until it was too late that you were the strongest, and I wouldn't have been allowed to fight you directly even if we had known." From his expression he looked both relieved and disappointed about that. "We were supposed to be saving our chakra until we found the real enemies we were looking for. I didn't know who they were at the time, just that they'd be strong enough to give an entire Anbu team a difficult fight. Can you confirm it now? We already had our suspicions that an Uchiha might have been involved from the start. That Sound team infiltrated the village a little too easily. Once Kakashi recognized your sharingan it was obvious you'd been sent to delay us for a reason. But we never had any concrete proof. Itachi was involved in that, wasn't he?"

"What difference would it make if he was?" asked Sasuke. He had already admitted to Ibiki that he had taken orders from Sound. If necessary he would point out that Sand had been dealing with Sound themselves despite their public claims to the contrary. Either way, it was too late to hold the clan responsible for things that had taken place before the truce unless they were planning to hold Sand responsible as well. If Konoha was counting Sand innocent of any involvement in Orochimaru's attack on Naruto, then he doubted they wanted to acknowledge any other traitorous actions they'd had a hand in at the time.

"It won't change anything," Naruto said quickly. "Officially it was just another of Sound's attempts to mess with us. No one has acknowledged that an Uchiha was a member of the team sent to slow down our pursuit even after we knew who you were. Even if you confirm that Itachi was involved, it won't make any difference in how we view the incident. It's over with. I only asked because we know he infiltrated our village with a Mist nin. If we verify that he was part of that Sound team it might mean there's something going on with Mist and Sound now, with Itachi in the middle of it. That would be a worst case scenario for us right now. But I understand if you're not comfortable talking about it. I shouldn't have brought it up. My dad might be able to negotiate a confirmation from your clan's elders now that we have a truce. They have as much to worry about with Itachi running loose as we do."

"Get your information from them. The clan never told me about Itachi's missions, or anything else he did. I didn't even know he had openly infiltrated Konoha and attacked two of your shinobi until my Sand instructor informed me of it the day I left." He only had his instructor's word that Itachi had been part of that Sound team. He believed him about that, but he didn't believe Itachi had done it without Sand's knowledge. With all of the politics Konoha was playing with Sand he would prefer to leave it to the clan to decide what 'official' story to give, if any. For all he knew they would deny his involvement as well as Itachi's.

"I'm sorry I brought it up," Naruto insisted. "It's bad enough that Ibiki wants to question you without me doing it, too. Forget I said anything." He snatched up the double kunai, trying out different holds that might be used with it. After a minute or two he attempted to twirl it around two fingers. He obviously wasn't using any chakra to hold it because as soon as he got it spinning at a fast rate it slipped free to clatter across the table. He promptly folded his hands in his lap and dropped his eyes with a dark blush. He looked awkward enough that the clumsiness probably hadn't been intentional. Sasuke snorted softly but didn't comment.

"So," Naruto mumbled after a while. "Are you still willing?"

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and he turned to stare at his shame-faced partner. After all of that talk about how content he was to go without, he still hoped to have sex tonight? His expression was exasperated by the time Naruto finally worked up the nerve to look at him. "You said I didn't have to," he reminded him.

"You don't," Naruto said quickly. "You don't have to do anything. I'll leave you alone now if that's what you want. I just figured it was worth asking. You being 'willing' is a lot better than you not being 'particularly reluctant,' so..."

Once again Naruto wanted it both ways. By stressing the point that he didn't 'have to' he hoped to get what he wanted without feeling like he was forcing him. The end result was the same. It was up to Sasuke to decide how much he was obligated to do. He wondered if Naruto was playing the same sort of politics with him that Konoha was playing with Sand. For someone who placed importance on honesty, Naruto had trouble calling things like they were. Whether he gave in because of their agreement or because it would prevent Naruto from pouting or being resentful tomorrow, he did 'have to' do it. That was why he had made the offer in the first place. Rather than get into another argument, which he now realized was little more than a semantic debate, he simply gave in. He had planned to have sex with him from the start if it meant he could spend the night alone. That Naruto viewed it as anything other than a trade made no difference to him. It was still a trade.

"Alright," Sasuke said simply. "Do you want to shower first?"

"Sure!" Naruto beamed and hopped up. "I'll be quick."

Sasuke shook his head as he watched him bound down the hall. If nothing else, he would learn from this. The next time it looked like Naruto was offering to forgo sex in order to make him happy he would simply let him babble. If he had to listen to Naruto convince himself that it wasn't a trade before he'd accept a trade, so be it. He was more comfortable having sex with him than he was sleeping with him, and it was far more interesting. Maybe once Naruto got used to this he would skip the self-delusion and simply accept what he offered. Sasuke didn't consider himself a positive person by nature, but in this case he decided to hope for the best.

An hour later found him back in the livingroom physically satisfied but thoroughly disgruntled. They'd had sex. Or, to be more accurate, he'd had sex with Naruto. And that was it. He was surprised to find himself disappointed that Naruto hadn't asked for more. Given Naruto's perversion and his fondness for kink he had expected any sex with him to be interesting if not physically demanding. The only thing challenging this time had been getting himself worked up enough to come as quickly as Naruto had. Some heavy kissing toward the end had taken care of that. He didn't know why he was disappointed. Topping Naruto was certainly more convenient for him. The clean up was definitely simpler and he had no physical discomfort afterward. Still, maybe he had looked forward to it, though not for the same reasons Naruto did. He had expected each encounter to introduce something new, something different that he would have to struggle with. If he had known Naruto could be satisfied just from bottoming he wouldn't have resisted so much last night. He wondered if that was the reason Naruto hadn't asked for more tonight. Maybe he really was trying to hold back out of consideration for him. If this was the result it meant sex with him would be physically satisfying and mentally boring. He hated being bored. Rather than feeling grateful that Naruto was being considerate, he went to bed on the couch fully convinced that he had less reason than ever to look forward to having sex with him.

.-.  
TBC


	10. Chapter 10

The Academy was a large collection of buildings set near what Naruto identified as the Hokage Mountain. There were heads carved on the mountain to represent each of the previous Hokages. In Sasuke's opinion the one for the Fourth was a poor representation at best. The academy itself didn't look like much from the outside. Naruto showed him the entrance students used, and the small training area set behind the building. There were separate training areas the academy used for what Naruto referred to as 'away' classes. Otherwise pregenin spent most of their time inside or right beside the building. The mission room was off to the side in a separate area. It was a very spacious room, though Naruto was quick to tell him it filled up fast by mid-afternoon and could get downright crowded in the evenings. Several chunin were setting things up, and Naruto pointed out the seats in the center of the semi-circular tables that he and his father would be taking. Then he led him through a back door and into a small break room. The man waiting for them had dark hair pulled into a thick tail on the back of his head, a chunin uniform, and a distinct scar across the bridge of his nose. The scar caught Sasuke's attention so he remained rooted in place as Naruto hurried forward.

"What's all of that?" Naruto asked, looking at the stack of scrolls on the table in front of the man. "Are you going to assign him homework?"

"It's just some reading material," the man said in a lightly teasing tone. "Some people like useful things to read and I know what your library consists of." He stood and gave Naruto a pointed look. "Are you going to introduce us?"

"Sure," Naruto grinned. "Sasuke, this is Umino Iruka. Iruka-sensei to just about everyone who's graduated from the academy since he started teaching there."

Sasuke stepped forward with a pronounced frown. The man's voice was as familiar as the scar. "Were you in Grass eight and a half years ago? In June? Accompanied by a female shinobi with short dark hair?"

Iruka's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "The gopher hole? You mean someone was actually in there?"

"No," Sasuke smirked. "If you had dug it up all you would have found was a hare. But I was close enough to hear every word you said."

"Then you know what I told her?" Iruka asked, looking both suspicious and embarrassed.

"You're being paranoid," Sasuke quoted, mimicking the man's patient tone. "You're more likely to dig up an owl than an enemy." He quirked an eyebrow as he recalled how confused he had been by that. At the time he hadn't been familiar with the way some teams spoke in code. "What did you mean by that?"

"It was an inside joke," Iruka admitted with a wry grin.

"So is this," Naruto said loudly, scowling at the two of them. "What the hell? You know each other?"

"Not exactly," said Sasuke. "Just a chance encounter. They passed within a few feet of where I was hiding."

"We were that close?" Iruka grimaced. "Anko was sure she sensed someone, but all we could find was that hole. You followed us, didn't you." It wasn't a question. "She was paranoid for nearly two hours after I finally convinced her not to dig that hole up."

"I only trailed you for one hour. Did she hear me?" He had been very careful. He had only followed to be sure they were really leaving the area and not lying in wait for him to break cover.

"She didn't hear or see anything. That's the only reason we didn't stop or go back." Iruka sighed, shaking his head with a weak smile. "I was sure she was just imagining things. I should have known her instincts were sharper than mine."

Sasuke noticed the way Naruto was grumbling under his breath. He raised an eyebrow at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Naruto muttered sarcastically. "It's nice that you two get along so well. If Anko was involved in your little 'chance encounter' then I guess you'll be making friends with her next. I can just see the two of you bonding over dango."

Was he jealous? Sasuke suspected he was, especially when Iruka smiled in amusement.

"We'll make it Ichiraku's," Iruka assured Naruto. "That way you can come along."'

"Yeah, because me and Anko get along so well. Did Kakashi tell you he summons snakes? And Ibiki 'impressed' him." He nodded when Iruka's eyebrow rose. "I know, right? So you can see why I'm not exactly eager for those two to meet." He turned his frown on Sasuke. "It's only fair that you at least meet my friends before you decide to hang out with people twice our age."

"I am not twice your age," Iruka muttered, his eyebrow twitching visibly.

"Ibiki has got to be," Naruto insisted. He went back to frowning at Sasuke. "Just give my friends a chance first, okay? Anko doesn't like me, so it's not right for you to meet her before you meet the people who do like me."

"You can introduce me to people in whatever order you like, or not at all for that matter," Sasuke said calmly. Naruto wasn't just jealous and feeling left out, he was worried. And he had a good reason to be. If Sasuke were honest he was far more interested in meeting shinobi old enough for him to have encountered them during his own missions. With Naruto's friends he would have to be civil and feign interest whether he had any or not. There were only two that he was looking forward to meeting, Hyuuga Neji and the boy Naruto claimed had made chunin on taijutsu alone. He would be lucky if he got along with those two, let alone all of the others Naruto had rambled on about last night.

Naruto relaxed enough to smile. "Okay, then. You heard him," he said to Iruka. "Don't you go setting him up with Anko behind my back."

"I won't," Iruka promised in a droll voice.

"Good. I'll see you later, Sasuke."

Iruka sat down, offering a smile when Sasuke sat across the table from him. "What he's really worried about is that you'll find out how many of the older shinobi refer to him as 'the brat'. Anko likes to call him that to his face just to annoy him. I've tried to explain to him that she teases him as a sign of affection, but he doesn't believe me."

"I've already heard a number of people refer to him that way." To him it showed a pronounced lack of respect. "Is it common here for people to 'show affection' with insults?"

"Yes. Yes, it is." Iruka's expression was utterly serious for a long moment before he smiled. "Kakashi says you hate him. I'm sorry if he got off on the wrong foot with you. He should have known better than to treat you the way he did Naruto and Sakura. He really is a very skilled shinobi, he just has a unique sense of humor that takes some getting used to."

Sasuke would rather not have to get used to it. "Naruto said you would answer any questions I have. Is there a limit to that?"

"Well, I'm limited to what I know the answers to. But if you mean taboo subjects, then no, nothing is off limits as far as I know."

"Why were you in Grass?" asked Sasuke. "Was it a coincidence that you passed so close to me or did I leave some sign behind that caught your eye?"

Iruka's eyebrows rose, as if he were surprised by the question. "I was wrong," he admitted, with a wince. "There are some taboo subjects I can't discuss. The details of our mission are classified, so I can't tell you why we were in Grass. I can tell you that we didn't see anything that led us to that hole. We were just passing by it when Anko noticed that the dirt had been disturbed. You said it was a rabbit?"

"Inside the hole. It was chased into it by a canine. That's what did the digging." If he had known more about summons back then he might have connected the mangy dog with the two shinobi who showed up soon after. As it was, he had simply driven it away. "What did you do to your forehead protectors? A henge?" He had encountered plenty of shinobi who didn't wear them at all during missions. Theirs had been blank.

"No, we have blank ones to wear when we don't want to be identified. Doesn't Sand do the same?"

"I wouldn't know," Sasuke admitted. None of the hidden villages he had worked for had supplied him with a blank, so it was probably either a Konoha tradition or something villages only gave to their own shinobi. "Why is Konoha considered strong?" He realized he should have segued into that. Iruka looked startled.

"By whom?" Iruka asked carefully. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"When my Sand instructor mentioned Konoha, he said it as if everyone knows of the village and either fears or respects it. If that's true, then why do they?"

Iruka offered him an apologetic smile. "I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but that's a very loaded question. Some people would suspect your motives in asking that. I don't, but others might. It's best not to be too straight-forward."

"You said I could ask anything."

"I know. The simple answer is that Konoha has more kages than the other villages. We have the fourth Hokage, Naruto's father, who built a name for himself long before taking up the position. Then we have two of the Sannin, Tsunade and Jiraiya. They're kage-level ninja and could take over in an instant should anything happen to the fourth. It's rare for both of them to be in the village at the same time, but they maintain contact and can be called in quickly. Then there's Naruto, who has been trained by both Jiraiya and the fourth, and who is also host to the nine-tails. Taken collectively, it means very few countries would risk an open war with Fire. A single hidden village wouldn't have a chance against us, and we have strong alliances to call upon should two or more join forces against us."

"Then you're not worried about Mist and Sound joining forces?"

Iruka winced. "It's different when Sound is involved. They never make open alliances. The hidden Mist village is nearly as bad if not worse. The moment one of their shinobi is caught attacking an ally they simply dub him a missing-nin to absolve themselves of blame. It's impossible to know how many of their missing-nin were merely following orders. You should talk to Ibiki about that. He works in the Intelligence division, so he knows a lot more about it than I do. All I can tell you is what we consider common knowledge for shinobi here. You'll need clearance if you want specific details on the information we've gathered."

"I'll stick with being let in on the 'common knowledge' that I'm currently lacking." He tried to keep resentment from creeping into his tone. He had been trained not to ask questions, but it was his own fault he had been too obedient to seek out answers for himself. Part of him had been perfectly content to simply follow orders without understanding anything about the people or villages he interacted with. It was no wonder he had been left out of so much. "Why did the clan leave Konoha? Is that considered common knowledge as well?"

"Everyone over a certain age knows something about it, but no one really talks about it anymore. Few people your age know the full story, just the rumors. The Uchiha clan left because of rumors." Iruka folded his arms over his chest. He didn't drop his eyes, but it was clear from his uncomfortable expression that he wanted to. "Naruto said he hadn't told you anything. That's because his mother was the last host for the ninetails. She was an Uzumaki, the clan that traditionally hosted Kyuubi. Naruto took her name rather than his father's because he is continuing that tradition. She died shortly after giving birth to Naruto because someone set the ninetails free. The last thing she did was help to seal it in Naruto. By then it had already killed many shinobi, including both of my parents. Rumor had it that only someone with the sharingan could have released Kyuubi and controlled it well enough to set it on the village."

"An Uchiha."

"Kakashi has a sharingan and he isn't an Uchiha," Iruka said firmly. "I was there during the attack. Members of the Uchiha clan died trying to defend the village just the same as everyone else. The man who claimed responsibility masked his face so it's impossible to say if he was an Uchiha or not. The third hokage sacrificed his life in order to kill him, so we know he paid for his crime. But the body disappeared during the confusion. Someone in Konoha took it before it could be identified. Suspicions started immediately. The clan suspected someone had done it to incriminate them, while others suspected the clan had done it to avoid being incriminated."

"Which do you believe?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Iruka dropped his eyes. "I honestly didn't care. My parents were dead and the demon that killed them was still alive. It took a long time before I fully understood what it meant that the ninetails was controlled. Its first instinct was to escape. It would never have voluntarily attacked the village and risked being imprisoned again. At the time, I blamed Kyuubi rather than the man who had controlled him. I couldn't understand why people were so concerned with who that man had been. He died. Even if he was an Uchiha, he obviously wasn't acting on behalf of the clan. I didn't have much sympathy for the clan, either," he admitted. "The Hokage supported them completely. All of the Uchiha were accounted for during the attack and the Hokage himself said they weren't to blame. And even if someone had taken the body in order to incriminate the clan, that doesn't necessarily mean it was a member of the village. It could have been a missing-nin for all we know. There is no way in which Konoha stood to gain from losing the Uchiha clan. If a member of the village was responsible for that he certainly wasn't acting on behalf of the village as a whole."

"In retrospect, which do you think is more likely?"

"Honestly?" Iruka sighed. "I think we may have had a traitor in our midst. Whether he was working with one of our enemies or not, he did as much damage to Konoha as Kyuubi's attack. The Hokage did his best to squash the rumors and reassure the clan, but with so many dead, including his own wife, and Naruto just a newborn, it was nearly a year before he could tackle the growing discord. By then the clan was completely isolated and any trust they had that the Hokage could guarantee their safety was long gone. The rumors had gotten completely out of control. There was even talk that the Hyuuga clan might join the Uchiha clan in a revolt against the village. I know you aren't familiar enough with the Hyuuga clan to understand how ridiculous that theory was, but a lot of people were worried enough to believe it. There was a strong feeling that the clan was a threat to the village which should be removed. But the Hokage was the clan's most vocal supporter right up until the end."

"Did he suggest the clan leave?"

"Absolutely not. The clan demanded the right to leave. He convinced them to stay for another year, and when they still wanted to leave he finally let them go. The rumors had died down by then, but he wasn't able to rebuild the trust lost on both sides. I don't know if the clan still didn't feel safe or if they simply refused to live alongside shinobi so quick to turn against them. The rumors exploded when they left. It was unheard of for an entire clan to simply break away from their village that way. That it happened to us was horrible. Everyone worried about what they might do in retaliation. A lot of people worried they would join forces with one of our enemies or start their own village in competition with ours. I was a pregenin in the Academy by then, so I didn't pay as much attention as I should have. I was just relieved to see it all end without any bloodshed. When the clan finally settled on the outskirts of Sand everyone stopped talking about them. It was as if they no longer existed. We didn't bother them and they didn't bother us. By the time I started teaching at the academy the instructors had even stopped using the sharingan when discussing doujutsu. It was an intentional omission."

Assuming he was close to Naruto's age he would have been at least two by the time the clan left, too young to remember anything. But Itachi must have been old enough to have experienced all of it. He might even know whether the clan had been involved in the demon's attack or not. Sasuke doubted they'd had anything to do with it, if only because they hadn't stood to gain anything by turning their own village against them. He wondered if Itachi harbored the same resentments toward Konoha that the rest of the clan must have when they left. That might explain why he had openly infiltrated this village. Or maybe it had nothing to do with it at all. He was no closer to assigning Itachi a likely motive than he had been yesterday.

"What is the feeling in this village now, after what Itachi did and the resulting truce?"

"Confusion and relief," Iruka smiled. "As far as most people know, Itachi didn't cause any damage while he was here. A few of us know he put Kakashi into a coma, but Tsunade-sama brought him out of it within the hour. The other two shinobi who engaged him directly weren't injured at all. Most people are concerned about the fact that he had a missing-nin from Mist with him, but Kakashi says he stood down the entire time. No one knows what they were doing here or why, so there's more confusion about it than fear. As for the truce, the general consensus is 'better late than never.' Those old enough to have held suspicions against the clan have seen what happens when the clan is dealing with everyone except us. We're the ones who've lost out and even they have to admit it. There are some who will still view the clan with mistrust, and you by association, but you can be sure the Hokage will be watching them as closely as they're watching you. This truce is important to Konoha."

"Why? If Konoha has as many replacement kages as you say, then what need do you have for a truce with my clan?" The clan was no threat. The mangekyou sharingan might enable Itachi to fight a kage-level shinobi, but he was just one person. Even if he teamed up with the leader of Sound that would still put Konoha ahead by a Sannin and Naruto. "What does Konoha have to fear from my clan?"

"The sharingan," Iruka said soberly. "Only a sharingan can control the ninetails. That rumor happened to be true. That's the fear that caused the clan to leave, and that fear will continue to exist so long as the sharingan and Kyuubi do."

"Any sharingan?" Why had he told him that? More importantly, why hadn't Naruto? He had been activating the sharingan around him since the first day they had met. Surely he would have warned him against using it around him if there was a chance it might set off his demon.

"No, not just any sharingan." Iruka must have seen how disturbed he was because his tone was reassuring. "I didn't tell you that to put you on notice. I told you because it's common knowledge and you deserve to know why some people will be nervous at having you so close to Naruto. Kakashi has been using the sharingan with Naruto for years without it affecting his seal, but you're an Uchiha so people will assume you're as capable of it as whoever did it last time. They don't understand enough about the seal or the sharingan. Naruto's mother was weakened from giving birth and the sharingan used on her was not a normal one. We aren't afraid you'll release Kyuubi, so you shouldn't be either. Kakashi says you don't have the eyes for it."

But Itachi did. Was that why he had come to Konoha, simply to reveal the mangekyou sharingan? He didn't know why Itachi would want them to know he had those eyes. All he had done was make himself a target. Maybe that was the point, though. If he did join up with Sound, Mist, or both, then Konoha would know their enemies had the potential to set Kyuubi against them. A truce with the rest of the clan wouldn't help them in that case. If the mangekyou sharingan was required to control Kyuubi then only someone with the same eyes would be able to counter whatever commands Itachi gave. If Konoha was counting on someone else in the clan having those eyes they were going to be very disappointed. Just finding shinobi with the normal sharingan was getting more difficult by the year.

"Kakashi told me not to use genjutsu on Naruto," said Sasuke. "If there's no chance of my sharingan affecting Kyuubi, why did he tell me that?"

"There's no chance of your sharingan releasing Kyuubi, but there's a very good chance you could affect him." Iruka didn't seem at all hesitant about revealing that. "A strong enough genjutsu could put you in direct contact with him. Naruto might welcome that eventually, but right now it would only cause trouble. The Hokage doesn't want either of you experimenting with that. I doubt Naruto would suggest it any time soon, but if he does it will be up to you to refuse. That's why Kakashi warned you." Iruka gave a slight smile. "He thinks you might be better at following the Hokage's orders than Naruto is."

They weren't even considering the possibility of the clan breaking the truce, leaving him free to cause whatever damage he could on their behalf. The clan wasn't strong enough to risk becoming enemies with Konoha now, but there was no telling what sort of sharingan-holders they might have five, ten, even twenty years from now. There was even a chance, however unlikely, that Itachi would return to the clan, giving them the very eyes this village feared most. He wondered why they weren't worried about that possibility. Perhaps they really were hoping to form an actual alliance with the clan. Now was the best time to do that, before the clan had regained enough strength to pose a real threat.

"Tell me what pregenin are required to know in order to graduate from the Academy," said Sasuke. "Naruto said you could explain the ranks to me."

Iruka was happy to oblige him. Sasuke listened intently and with growing surprise. Pregenin started the academy as young as six, which was the same age he had been when he began learning to use his chakra. But they weren't required to know anything when they arrived. If they had the desire to enter they were accepted whether they had potential or not. They were then allowed to remain no matter how badly they performed until they passed the final test or dropped out on their own. Sasuke couldn't help imagining classes spotted with grown men too incompetent to be shinobi but too stubborn to simply give up. There was a lot of theory taught, according to Iruka, that Sasuke was frankly skeptical about. His aim was as close to perfect as he could get it, but even he couldn't work out a theoretical problem with angles and forces such as the ones Iruka described. He doubted even Itachi could use numbers to explain what he did through sight and practice.

"Are you telling me every pregenin who graduates from your Academy is capable of solving problems like that? Including Naruto?"

Iruka laughed. "No, not even close. Naruto never did well on the written tests. Those are some of the things we teach, but few students have the skills to plan out and explain their actions in a theoretical setting. The graduation exam relies mostly on practical skills, taijutsu and weapon usage, trap building, and the basic jutsu like transformation, clones, and replacement."

"Not teleportation?"

"No, that isn't learned until you pass the chunin exam. Some do pick it up early, but it isn't taught to genin as a rule because we don't want them abusing the privilege. It's considered a chunin level technique here, not so much because of the difficulty as because that prevents genin from popping in and out of places they have no business being."

"And the kage bunshin jutsu?"

"Is forbidden." Iruka's voice was firm, but his eyes shone with amusement. "Don't let Naruto convince you otherwise. He had no business learning it so young. He was lucky he had the chakra to pull it off." A small smile made it to his lips as he admitted, "Kakashi mentioned that you used it to duplicate weapons. He was very surprised. I hope you know better than to make too many duplicates of yourself. If you make fifty clones each one will have one fiftieth of your chakra, and so will you. If that isn't enough to keep you alive you'll die the moment you perform the jutsu. That's why it's considered a forbidden technique. For ranking purposes, that makes it a jounin level technique by default. Even then only those who know to limit the number of clones to a safe level are allowed to learn it. Who taught it to you?"

"A Sound shinobi." Who he now knew had been a Konoha shinobi in disguise. Or the other way around. He might have known. Maybe the jutsu really was limited to Konoha, with traitors being the exceptions that carried it to other villages. "What about summoning? Naruto implied few people do it here."

"That's a tough one," Iruka sighed. "Technically anyone can make a pact if they have the chakra to do so. It isn't taught at any specific rank. Few people start experimenting with summons until they make chunin, though, and only special and full jounin rely on them regularly. I'm guessing Naruto told you that Anko summons snakes. She learned that as a genin. And Naruto was six when he summoned his first tadpole. By the time he graduated from the Academy he was already summoning Gamabunta. There really are no set rules about summoning."

"What are genin required to know in order to make chunin? Naruto told me about the second stage of his chunin exam, but I don't understand the point of it."

"The survival test," Iruka nodded. "It's just what it sounds like. The point is to survive by relying on teamwork, evading other teams and targeting those who carry the scroll needed. Technically Naruto and Sakura failed that test because their third member didn't finish with them. Not every chunin exam includes that test, though, so the Hokage made an exception for them and Gaara. All three of them slept through the final test, which involved battle strategy in one-on-one fights. The first test focused on information gathering and subterfuge. As a whole, the chunin exam tests how ready genin are to accomplish missions without having a jounin around to help them when they run into trouble. Ideally a chunin should be able to lead a team or accomplish solo missions, depending on the need. There is no set list of techniques that must be learned in order to make chunin. Tree climbing and walking on water are the only things that all genin are taught. Anything beyond that depends on the individual's talents and what their jounin instructor is willing to teach."

Since he knew nothing about teamwork it was just as well he wouldn't be taking their test. "What do chunin learn aside from teleportation that genin aren't expected to know?"

"Seals, advanced ninjutsu, and anything that builds upon their strengths. Those who excel in one or more areas well enough to compete on a jounin level, but who are lacking in other areas may make special jounin. That lets them work in their own specialties. As for those hoping to make jounin, there are certain things that must be learned which I'll leave to Naruto and Kakashi to explain." Iruka shrugged with a smile. "I'm not a jounin, after all. I can tell you that genjutsu is not a requirement for advancement even to jounin level. Naruto told me you were unsure how you compare in that area. It's one of the least appreciated arts. We teach the basics at the academy, but it's up to the individual whether or not they build on that as they advance. Usually it's only those who are good at casting illusions who are also good at dispelling them. If you want to try your weakest level on me, I'd be happy to give you my appraisal."

Sasuke immediately took him up on that offer. He tried it twice, without the sharingan and again with it. He was a little disappointed by how easily Iruka shrugged them both off. After the snake the other night he had started to wonder if all of his genjutsu levels were higher than he had thought now that his sharingan was more advanced. Apparently that wasn't the case. Instead, he had simply used too much chakra, as usual.

"If that's your lowest level then it's standard genin level genjutsu. I expect everyone graduating from the Academy to be able to dispel that. Those jounin you used it on should be ashamed of themselves." His smile belied the criticism. "Unfortunately it isn't unusual for some shinobi to skip genjutsu altogether. It just isn't considered essential next to taijutsu and ninjutsu. Tell me, do you use more or less chakra when performing that level of genjutsu with the sharingan? The difference in strength was negligible as far as I could tell."

"Neither," Sasuke admitted. "With the sharingan I don't have to use handsigns to focus my chakra, but the amount of chakra I use is the same. With higher levels of genjutsu I do use handsigns, but only to limit the amount of chakra." His natural inclination was to use too much chakra. He had developed that bad habit when he had first started practicing with the sharingan and he had yet to get rid of it when it came to genjutsu. "I rarely used genjutsu before acquiring the sharingan. I was taught to dispel illusions early, though." He had taken that to be as basic as knowing how to dodge. Even with Iruka confirming everything Naruto had said, he still had trouble with the idea of jounin who couldn't even recognize a genin level genjutsu.

"That isn't surprising considering your clan. The Hyuuga clan also uses doujutsu, and every student of theirs that I've taught came to the academy having already learned something about seeing through genjutsu. But they also arrive with naturally better chakra control than their peers. It's just a matter of appealing to your inherent strengths. You take genjutsu for granted because you're an Uchiha. Being good at genjutsu is as natural for a member of your clan as having excellent chakra control."

"I don't have excellent chakra control," Sasuke said darkly. As he had told Naruto, that was part of the clan tradition that had skipped him entirely.

"Really?" Iruka frowned, looking at him closely. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Compared to whom?"

"What?"

"Who are you comparing yourself to? Kakashi said you appeared self-taught for the most part, so I'm curious who you've met with such perfect chakra control that you consider yours inferior. Hyuuga Neji has the best chakra control among the shinobi your age, with Sakura as a close second. I seriously doubt you're far behind them." His lips twitched and he gave in to a wry smile. "You might be far beyond them considering your experience. So who are you comparing yourself to? Jounin?"

"No." He had compared himself to the Uchiha who had come before him. That was when he had first realized he was behind. Sand had confirmed it a few years later. "When I passed Sand's genin test they labeled my chakra usage as wasteful." His eyes narrowed. "Considering the jounin they later assigned to me, the fact that I didn't compare to their own genin tells me everything I need to know."

"Yes," Iruka sighed, "I've heard all about your jounin instructor. I can't say anything about Sand's genin test, but I can suggest a quick way for you to determine if your chakra usage is really wasteful or not. Use the sharingan to see exactly how much chakra you use in a basic jutsu, then have someone else with efficient chakra usage perform the same and compare the two. Just don't use Naruto for your comparison." He flashed a grin. "His chakra usage really is wasteful, especially with basic techniques. As with most everything, he tries a little too hard."

Sasuke didn't accept the suggestion outright, but he knew he would consider it. He had learned to use as little chakra as necessary, but as far as he could tell he hadn't improved much over the years. He was still curious to see where he came out in comparison to the shinobi here. The ones his age had been in the academy until they were between ten and twelve. He wanted to see what being trained in such a controlled environment did for them. That seemed horribly restrictive to him, but it meant they had thoroughly covered the basics before becoming active shinobi. And the moment they left the academy they were taken in by a jounin instructor. Compared to them, he had done everything backwards. It would be interesting to see what sort of difference that made. He decided to ask what sort of missions each rank performed. There were other things he wanted to ask, but if he were going to meet Naruto's friends he wanted to know in advance what sort of work they had been doing.

Iruka was telling him what he knew about the formation of Sound village when Naruto slipped into the room. At first Sasuke hoped he was just checking on them, but Iruka rose, looking startled and apologetic.

"Is it that time already?" he winced. "Sorry, Sasuke. I have an afternoon shift in the mission room, so we'll have to pick up where we left off another time. You can take these." He pushed the scrolls across the table to him. "If you have any questions be sure to pose them to Naruto first. As someone aiming to be the Hokage it's shameful how little he knows. I may need him to sit in with us next time just so he'll learn something."

"You just think I'll pay more attention with Sasuke watching," Naruto grumbled, proving that he would.

Iruka smirked at him, and then nodded to Sasuke. "I look forward to speaking with you again. It's refreshing to teach someone so interested in learning."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he watched him hurry from the room. He supposed the man had been teaching him. He hadn't thought of it that way, mostly because Iruka had let him choose the topics. His attention was drawn back to Naruto, who had his arms folded over his chest and was smirking at him. "What?" Sasuke demanded.

"I told you so," Naruto said smugly. "You like him, right? Everyone likes Iruka-sensei."

"He was informative," Sasuke allowed. "I won't claim to like him, though. There's no point getting you jealous again."

Naruto glowered at that, but he didn't deny it. "I just don't want to lose you to older shinobi. I'm really glad you were comfortable with Iruka-sensei. He's great. But if you start hanging out with Anko because of the snake thing, then it's only a step away from you going to Genma because he uses senbon, or Kurenai-sensei because she uses genjutsu. I know you have more in common with the older shinobi than you do with my friends and that bothers me. I'll have to share you eventually, I know that. And I do want you to have people you're comfortable dealing with. I'm just hoping some of my friends can fit that role, at least for now. If you don't like any of them then I promise I'll back off and stop being so possessive."

"Whether I like them or not, I look forward to meeting them. It will be interesting to see what sort of shinobi you surround yourself with." He wondered how many of them would be as emotional as Naruto and Sakura, and if any were as grating as Kakashi. "Iruka answered a lot of my questions about the ranks, but I'm still no closer to determining where I fall. I'll learn more from seeing the chunin you graduated with."

"Neji is a jounin," Naruto said quickly. "Not all of my friends are still chunin, so if it's higher ranking shinobi you're interested in we have that covered. Like I said, Lee is on the fast track to making special jounin with his taijutsu, and Shikamaru's already there. I don't know if you'd like him, though. He doesn't have your drive and sometimes he acts like he doesn't even want to be a shinobi. But he can devise strategies like you wouldn't believe. It's a shame he isn't more ambitious."

"You don't have to convince me to meet them." He didn't want to listen to Naruto ramble on about each one of them when they were only names to him. He gathered up the scrolls Iruka had left and let Naruto transport them back to the apartment. He set them on the table before commenting on one of the things Iruka had told him. "When I first arrived here you had no way of knowing whether I had mangekyou sharingan or not. Knowing what those eyes are capable of, why weren't you afraid of me?"

Naruto was taken by surprise so much that it took him a minute to respond. When he did it was with a small smile. "You're loyal to your clan. Even if you'd had those eyes and knew what they could do, you wouldn't have used them. You were willing to suicide in order to avoid doing anything that would break the truce. There was no reason for me to be afraid of you." His smile widened suddenly so that his eyes glittered deviously. "My dad, on the other hand, wasn't taking any chances. I told you he's been strengthening my seal since he found out I was obsessing over you. Between him and Jiriaya, Kyuubi is as safe as we could hope for. It will take a lot more than a special sharingan to get through their work."

"Then you're not afraid of Itachi attacking you directly?" He was both surprised and disgruntled to hear that. Did this village have no weaknesses at all? That meant Konoha had no reason to fear the clan. He should have been relieved to hear that since it meant the clan was in no danger from them. Maybe he would be relieved later, once his annoyance at Konoha's disproportionate strength wore off. Assuming it did.

"I wouldn't say that," Naruto frowned. "He has a lot more at his disposal than just his eyes. They're labeling him an S-rank missing-nin. If you consider the company he's likely to keep he is a major threat whether he can tamper with my seal or not. There are much simpler ways to hurt this village than trying to release Kyuubi. Until we know what he's up to, we'll have to strengthen our alliances and keep a close eye on our enemies. Even our key allies might be tempted to try something with him on their side. We might not be worried about the mangekyou sharingan itself, but we're definitely worried about Itachi."

That was gratifying to know. Sasuke had to wonder at himself for feeling that way. As an ally of Sand he should want Konoha to be as strong as possible, because that would benefit the clan. But he couldn't help resenting that a single village had such an advantage over the rest. It wasn't fair. He was amused to find himself thinking something so naive. Being a shinobi was all about subjugating or protecting the weak and overpowering or manipulating the strong. Fairness was something for civilians to complain about, people who knew nothing about the sacrifices and effort shinobi put in to give them the peaceful lives they took for granted.

"Do you have anything else planned for today?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto gave him a wary look. "Sort of. Are you up for another shopping trip? We need to get some clothes for you. And we could stock up on equipment while we're out."

"Do you know what happened to the equipment I had on me when I was taken?"

"No, but I can find out. Did you have anything suspicious? It might have been turned over to the T&I department. In that case, we can probably get it back from Ibiki."

"There were a few poisons Konoha might be interested in," Sasuke admitted. "I'm more interested in the packs and the scrolls. If they weren't returned to the clan, I'd like them back."

Naruto quickly offered to find out. It wasn't until they left the apartment that Sasuke realized Naruto had expected him to be reluctant to go shopping with him again. He considered explaining to him that he was far more eager to get clothes and equipment than he had been to buy groceries. Instead he let his interest speak for itself. Where he had been content to let Naruto buy whatever food he liked, he was very particular about the sort of clothing he preferred to wear. Konoha had an assortment of small shops geared to the apparently eclectic tastes of their shinobi. Sasuke had never really been in a position to choose his own outfits, so he was pleased to find most of the things he liked were, according to Naruto, reasonably priced. They were also practical, bland, and subdued. Naruto's protests started the moment they had looked over everything and Sasuke began choosing.

"Mesh is flexible and gives added protection," Naruto insisted. "Lots of shinobi wear it here."

As if the fact that the undershirt Naruto had picked out would be skin tight on him had nothing to do with his preference. "I've worn mesh before," Sasuke informed him. "It was restrictive and uncomfortable. I'm looking for something to train in. Being able to move freely is as important as durability."

"In that case the color shouldn't matter. You don't have to get muddy brown and gray just because you're training in Konoha. A little color won't hurt anything."

"I am not wearing orange."

"It's not orange, it's red!"

"You wear it if you like it so much," Sasuke sniffed dismissively. He did bypass the shades that most closely matched Konoha's standard uniforms, though. Practical as they were, he had enough vanity to admit they wouldn't suit him very well. He settled on dark blue, black, and a pale gray-blue that Naruto practically begged him to take. He considered it a trade-off for refusing to buy white shorts even to sleep in.

Naruto had no issues with his choice in footwear, but they once again butted heads when it came to accessories. Sasuke wasn't surprised that Naruto wanted him to get cuffs like the ones he had worn during their first encounter. He was more interested in the thick wristbands and tight arm-supports himself. He had seen a number of shinobi use those to store things and to cover seals written on their arms. The cuffs Naruto liked so much might look better to him, but their true purpose had been to conceal poisoned senbon. He wouldn't be using those during his training here. He calmly pointed that out and was forced to listen while Naruto tried and failed to convince him otherwise. It was only when the shopkeeper edged closer to better overhear their argument that Sasuke conceded. They quickly left the shop with both. It was Naruto's money, after all, and even Sasuke had to agree that the white cuffs would go well with the pale shirt. At least Naruto hadn't pushed for the matching ankle cuffs. Sasuke had been firm about only buying pants to train in.

They stopped at the T&I building before buying any equipment. The chunin at the front desk was less than happy to see Naruto. He made a valiant effort to dissuade him from barging straight through to Ibiki's office. Sasuke was impressed by how long the man stood his ground before reluctantly offering to go and see if Ibiki was available. Naruto smirked once the man was out of sight.

"He was here when I forced my way in the other day. He just passed the chunin exam last year, so it really bugs him that my entire genin group passed it so quickly. He's also really nervous around Ibiki so this is the worst post he could ask for. I can't resist giving him a hard time. Iruka-sensei tried to get him in at the mission room, but he didn't have the patience for that, either. He's the sort I was telling you about, though. He has a natural talent for seals, which will make him a great special jounin even if he never excels at anything else. He just has to get used to working with the T&I division because they're the ones who need seal experts the most."

Sasuke wondered if Naruto knew as much about all of the shinobi in this village or if this particular man was an exception. That was probably one of the things the Hokage was teaching him, to know his people in order to get the most out of them. He could only imagine how long that would take with a village this size. Naruto might not have the head to remember all of the information Iruka had wanted to impart on him, but that was what advisers were for. Being able to interact with his fellow shinobi was far more valuable for someone in his position. Sasuke didn't see how intentionally irritating that chunin would help anything, but Iruka had admitted Konoha shinobi had a strange way of treating each other. Perhaps by giving the man a 'hard time' Naruto was preparing him to cope with shinobi who were even worse. Whatever worked for them. As long as Naruto didn't expect that sort of harassment to have a similar effect on him it was none of his business.

The chunin did look a little more confident when he returned and informed them that Ibiki was willing to see them. Naruto grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. The man's resulting glower was less than genuine. Sasuke sighed as he followed Naruto down the hall. These Konoha shinobi were a very peculiar bunch. He couldn't fathom how so many members of his clan had grown up here without being infected by their ways. They must have kept their distance even before the incident with Kyuubi forced them into isolation.

"You can have most of it back," Ibiki shrugged, once he understood what they were after. "There are a few poisons we're still studying. We won't be releasing those. We're particularly interested in the one you had in your sandal. Would you care to explain?"

"No."

Ibiki smiled, an expression that was quite eerie on him. "Sand?" He eyed Sasuke closely as if he could see past his blank expression. "That's what I thought. In that case we won't bother consulting with them." He opened a blank scroll and scrawled a quick note on it before sealing it closed. He handed it to Naruto. "What we're done with is in the lower storage room. Have Iwaki fetch it for you. It will give him something to do. As for you," his attention shifted to Sasuke. "Don't go replicating that poison. We don't want you suiciding on our watch. That's a tradition you can leave behind along with the Sand hitaiate."

As soon as the chunin out front had grudgingly left on his errand, Naruto rounded on Sasuke. "What was he talking about?"

"Sand shinobi suicide when captured," Sasuke reminded him. "The poison they use is a strictly guarded secret."

"But you know it?"

He refused to confirm or deny that. Sand wasn't aware that he could duplicate it. "I had a sample on me when I was taken. It was given to me along with their forehead protector. Obviously I never had cause to use it."

"Now you never will," Naruto said determinedly. "I'm glad it's staying here with their forehead protector. I knew they used something, but I had no idea they supplied it to brand new genin. I'll have to talk to Gaara about that. Don't worry, they won't blame you for our getting our hands on a sample. It's their own fault for not taking it back before we picked you up. They shouldn't have given it to you in the first place. Sand shinobi might suicide when captured but Uchihas never have. They might as well have ordered you to hand over the sharingan to anyone lucky enough to capture you. That's insane."

"I didn't have the sharingan when they gave it to me," Sasuke reminded him. He couldn't argue with Naruto's main point, though. His jounin instructor had shown him how to secrete the senbon in a place that allowed him to fight and train without being pricked. That meant he had expected him to carry it in the event he was captured. He should have considered what that would mean as a sharingan-holder. He honestly hadn't given it much thought. Now he wondered if his father had known about that part of his training. He hadn't done any missions after gaining the sharingan, so he supposed it didn't really matter. "It makes no difference now. I certainly won't be using any poisons during our training. Any I do arm myself with will be non-deadly ones or ones I can produce a quick antidote for."

Naruto was too worked up to let it go that easily. He was especially outraged at the thought of genin, which he equated with children, being armed with something so deadly. He seemed to be envisioning large numbers of kids dying due to accidental nicks and scrapes. Sasuke took it as a testament to both his soft spot for children and his unfamiliarity with poisons. He had never heard of a shinobi being accidentally poisoned by his own weapon. Sand might place their preferred suicide methods in dangerous spots but even then it would take a fall or blow in just the wrong way for someone to be pricked by mistake. The odds of that weren't even worth mentioning. He was relieved when the chunin returned with a firm reminder that this was the T&I building and people were trying to work. Naruto immediately switched from ranting about Sand to teasing the man for being such a stickler for the rules. Sasuke took the bag the man had collected and moved closer to the door so he could look through it while Naruto was preoccupied.

"Well?" Naruto asked once he had joined him. He didn't offer to teleport them, so Sasuke stepped outside for the walk back to the apartment.

"I got back more than I expected," said Sasuke. "I won't have to borrow your spare weapons pouch any longer. I'll still need more senbon, but I have plenty of chakra wire. They did keep my summoning scroll, though. What would they want with that?" He wasn't particularly bothered by the loss since most of the contracts on it had expired anyway. He could always start a new scroll if he decided to renew those or make new ones.

"They might be looking at it to see if there's any crossover between you and other snake summoners." Naruto didn't look entirely convinced of that. "Or Ibiki could be hoping to have Anko summon some of your snakes to get a better idea of where you've been..."

That was more likely. Sasuke wasn't concerned about it, though. Few of his past summons had expressed interest in the details of the missions he used them on. Terra could have given them an earful but their contract was still valid. Sasuke couldn't see him coming to heel for a strange shinobi no matter how compelling the summoning ritual was. If summons could be compromised that easily there would be no point in contracting them at all. Besides, if Ibiki wanted to know more about where he had been all he had to do was ask. He had already offered to share information.

Naruto passed the turn that would have taken them to the apartment. Sasuke followed him for another block before asking the obvious. "Where are we going?"

"Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked, with a hopeful grin. "I guarantee they'll have the best ramen you've ever tasted."

Considering how rarely he had eaten ramen that wasn't saying much. He decided not to point out that they had a refrigerator full of perishables waiting for them back at the apartment. Naruto had mentioned this ramen stand of his enough times that he might as well try it. "That's fine with me."

"Really? Great! Come on, we can get there just in time for the lunch special."

Naruto was every bit the regular customer that he had claimed to be. The older man running the stand was as happy to see him as Naruto was to be there. He was also a civilian and made no attempt to hide his surprise and curiosity when Naruto introduced Sasuke to him. He served Sasuke a bowl on the house and then proceeded to question him. He might have included Naruto if the blonde hadn't been busy gulping down ramen as if his life depended upon it.

"It's true about the truce, then?" the man asked Sasuke. "I've heard the talk that's going around, but it's hard to credit anything you hear when it comes to the Uchiha clan. There was a guy in here yesterday who insisted they had sent Itachi. I admit there's a family resemblance but that's a pretty sad mistake to make."

"Sasuke's the younger son," Naruto mumbled around a mouthful of ramen. "He looks nothing like Itachi."

"Is that right?" The man grinned easily. "I stand corrected, then."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "Have you ever seen Itachi?"

"Nope. But Kakashi has and he says you look nothing alike. That's good enough for me."

The ramen seller nodded in agreement. "I head about his run-in with him. Is it true he had to be rescued by Guy-san?"

Naruto choked and almost spit out his ramen. He swallowed with difficulty and then grinned. "Did Lee tell you that?"

"He told me and everyone else within shouting distance." He leaned closer and dropped his voice. "Just between us, I think someone spiked his drink again. He was acting a little loopy by the time Tenten showed up to drag him out of here. There were a couple of genin hanging around who didn't order anything. I'd put my money on them."

Naruto winced. "Girls?"

"Cute ones," the man nodded soberly. "Never seen them around before either."

"They were probably using a henge, then," Naruto sighed. "The last batch of genin have been hounding him ever since they found out he uses drunken fist. If they don't cut it out they'll get to see just what they want, and then they'll spend the next year paying for the damage. I'm glad Tenten caught him in time. I definitely don't want him going wild around here."

"Me, either," the man laughed.

Sasuke watched the two of them while he ate. The ramen was as good as Naruto had promised, but he was much more interested in observing the civilian. The man was old enough to have met members of his clan, explaining the resemblance he had noted. He was surprised by how easily the man accepted his presence. The fact that he had shown up with Naruto obviously helped. He wondered if Naruto had intentionally drawn the man's attention away from him. He appreciated it whether it was deliberate or not. He had enough difficulty with Konoha's shinobi without having to deal with their civilians as well. The way they were sitting with their backs exposed to the street did nothing to put him at ease. He finished his bowl and split his attention between the ongoing conversation and the people passing behind them. The flap of the stall hid their faces, so perhaps he had less reason to be nervous than he had thought. Then again, Naruto was wearing orange. No one would need to see his face to know exactly who he was.

"Would you like some more...?"

Sasuke looked around to find the girl who had been working in the back staring at him with a wide-eyed blush. "No, thank you."

"I'll have some more," Naruto spoke up. There was something devious about his grin. As soon as she and the man went to get him another serving he elbowed Sasuke in the arm. "That's the same blush she gets when Kakashi eats here. She's one of the few who has seen his face. If she starts crushing on you, you could be getting free meals all the time."

"I'll be sure to take advantage of that, then," Sasuke muttered sarcastically. He didn't know what to make of Naruto's teasing smirk. After the possessive jealousy Naruto had displayed earlier he was surprised to find him so amused now. Maybe it was because the girl was a civilian and Sasuke had no interest whatsoever in civilians. Still, if Naruto didn't like the thought of him talking to other people when he wasn't around he shouldn't joke about it. He ignored the girl when she returned with another bowl for Naruto. He was appalled by the way Naruto inhaled the food with only a token amount of chewing. "How much of that are you going to eat?"

"As much as I can get down before you threaten to leave without me," Naruto answered guilelessly. "I'm hoping for five bowls, but I'll make do with four if you're already getting impatient."

"I can always make you some to go," the man called cheerfully.

"I wasn't even counting the to-go pack," Naruto tossed back. He grinned at Sasuke and then lifted his bowl to drink the broth.

Sasuke fought back a grimace as another bowl was immediately placed in front of Naruto. "You're going to be bulging as badly as my summon if you eat five bowls of that."

"His record is fourteen," the girl informed him. She smiled and blushed when Sasuke glanced at her. "He was almost sick that time."

"I was not," Naruto said stoutly. "Don't believe a word she says, Sasuke. My goal is twenty bowls and it's only a matter of time before I get there. Trust me, I could eat six bowls right now and it wouldn't even keep me till dinner time. I always have more room for ramen."

Which probably made him their best customer. Sasuke tore his eyes away from the gorging blonde. "Do you have any green tea here?" he asked the girl, who was still hovering across from them.

"Yes! I'll get you some right away!"

Naruto snorted a laugh, inhaled some ramen, and promptly started coughing. Sasuke ignored him. He would sip at his drink until Naruto had the five bowls he was hoping for. Then if Naruto had the bulging gut he expected he would taunt him into sparring just for a chance to punch him in it. If nothing else that would help him make room for any 'to-go pack' he left here with.

A short time later they had dropped their purchases off at the apartment and were once more walking through the village. Much to Sasuke's disappointment Naruto had wisely refused to spar with him until he had digested his excessive lunch. His stomach wasn't quite as rounded as Sasuke had expected it to be, but his baggy jacket was noticeably tighter around the front. That didn't stop him from being enthusiastic as he pointed things out.

"Sakura-chan lives there," Naruto said of a narrow building crammed into a row of similar ones. "She doesn't have time to take care of her own place, so she's still staying with her parents. They're civilians so they like that she spends more time in the hospital than she does on missions." He pointed out the library, boasting that he hadn't set foot in there once in his entire life. He was a bit put out at how readily Sasuke believed that. "That's Iruka-sensei's apartment there on the third floor." This building was a larger one, but from the outside it didn't look much different from the one Naruto lived in. "It's nice. Tenten wants to get a place there. She moved into Lee's spare room last year and it's not working out at all. He interrogates anyone she brings home. They were on the same genin team which makes Lee her protector as far as he's concerned. He's not ready for the idea of her dating. It's funny watching them argue about it, especially if Neji is around. He'll call them both pathetic and they team up on him because he hasn't even considered dating. He's still waiting for his clan to decide what they want from him."

Which Sasuke completely sympathized with. He frowned at Naruto. "Do you gossip this much with everyone or just me?"

"It's not gossip. This is just stuff that comes up when we get together, so I figure if you know you won't feel left out. And I want you to know the truth, not what you might hear from other people. Gossip has it that Lee and Tenten are a couple and Neji is jealous. There isn't a shred of truth to that rumor, but it's been going around so long you're bound to hear about it. Until you get to know enough people around here to realize which ones have their facts straight and which ones don't, I want you to get your information directly from me."

"You're already my primary source of information. That isn't likely to change."

"You say that now, but it's only a matter of time before people get brave enough to approach you. Then you'll be hearing all sorts of things." He sighed and sent a quick look around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear them. "Iruka-sensei told you about Kyuubi, right? So you know why some people won't like us being so close. Once they realize they can't influence me they'll try to bias you against me. I don't want you to believe anything you hear unless I confirm it. I promise to own up to the truth no matter how embarrassing it is."

"What am I likely to hear?" He doubted Naruto would be so worried if there weren't already specific rumors floating around. "That older shinobi refer to you as 'the brat'?"

Naruto glowered at him. "Iruka-sensei? That figures. I can deal with that one. It doesn't mean they don't respect me, just that they don't take me seriously yet." He said it as if the two weren't synonymous. "I put up with it because it shows they aren't afraid to tease me. If all I wanted was respect I could have used the fact that I'm host to Kyuubi to scare it out of everyone. But then I'd be in the same position Gaara is. It's easier to earn respect from people who are so familiar with me that they don't take me seriously than it would be to earn trust from people who feel threatened by me. So as annoying as it is that some of them still call me a brat, I'll take it as a plus."

"Why aren't they afraid of you?" asked Sasuke. Since Naruto was the one who had brought up Gaara, he didn't see any harm in prying a little. "Is it because your father is the Hokage, or is there an inherent difference between your seals that makes yours safer than his?"

"My father is the main difference. Not just because he's Hokage, but because he raised me like a son. Gaara's father is the Kazekage, but he raised him as a pariah. He didn't even try to treat him like a real person."

"I had no idea he was related to the Kazekage." That certainly explained how the man had managed to stay in power for so long.

"See?" Naruto scowled, obviously angry at the way his friend had been treated. "Everyone knows who I am, but they know me as my father's son, not Konoha's demon-holder. I was only isolated from the rest of the village until I was old enough to cope with the danger I brought with me. Not because I was dangerous," he said quickly. "Most people stopped worrying about that a long time ago. The closest I've come to hurting anyone was during the chunin exam. The real danger was that our enemies targeted me, putting anyone near me at risk. When I joined the academy some parents wanted to pull their kids out because they were afraid they might be caught in an attack. That was the only time I was ever treated like a pariah. My dad took care of it by assigning Anbu to guard the entire pregenin class. Instead of my attendance putting their kids at risk, it guaranteed they were safer than ever. Gaara never had that. He didn't have anyone to stand up for his needs. Just the opposite. They encouraged their own people to be afraid of him."

Sasuke wondered if Naruto would be upset if he asked about the alleged attacks Gaara had made on children his own age. That had more to do with the fear he had seen than the simple fact that Gaara had a demon sealed inside of him. Had Sand encouraged him to attack their own people in order to keep him isolated? The real question was why Gaara would remain loyal to a village that had treated him that way. "Is he trying to change that now? To earn the trust of the people who fear him?"

"He'll have to if he wants to be the next Kazekage," Naruto sighed. His eyes widened when he caught Sasuke's expression. "You didn't know? He's in line for it. His supporters are pushing for him to do it now, while there's still enough fear to keep anyone from protesting. The current kazekage is resisting on the basis that he hasn't been trained well enough to lead the village. Gaara is defaulting to him for now. Sand is in no position to handle a civil war and that's what it would come to if he pushed too early. Besides, he wants more than just the support of the shinobi. He has a lot of bad history to make up for in order to prove himself to the village as a whole. I really respect his determination. He could have made kage a year or two ago if he were willing to use force and intimidation. He wants his village to want him as their kage."

"That would make the alliance between Konoha and Sand stronger than ever," Sasuke noted. It also explained why Konoha was so willing to deny or overlook any transgressions Sand had made during the last few years. With his personal ties to Naruto, Gaara wasn't likely to partake in the sort of double-dealing his predecessor was known for. Sasuke's thoughts naturally turned to what that would mean for the clan. They were left alone because they weren't restricted by Sand's open alliances. A new Kazekage with strong ties to Konoha would end any dealings they had with Sound and limit the missions they took for Mist. That was a good thing as far as Sasuke was concerned since those were the missions that cost the most lives. The drawback was that it would make the clan a target for any enemies Sand and Konoha had. They would be opening themselves to the dangers of an alliance with Konoha without getting any of the benefits. Until they gave in and accepted an alliance themselves?

Sasuke sighed with frustration. "I don't know enough about politics. As a future kage you couldn't have picked a worse person to have on your side."

"I have plenty of people ready to help me dance around political situations. There are so many steps involved that it makes my head spin. I'm glad you haven't been taught to play that game. Yet." Naruto shot him a knowing smile. "I can see you being a natural at it as suspicious as you are. I get the feeling you can spot an ulterior motive from a mile away, whether it's actually there or not. It makes me nervous. That's why I want to get as much out in the open as possible before you start drawing your own conclusions. Half the time I have no idea what you're thinking, so I can only assume it's bad. You don't give anything away without making me work for it."

"Unlike you, who gives away everything even when I haven't asked for it," Sasuke returned evenly. "I really don't need to know so much about your friends' private lives, or the background of that chunin we met earlier. If you want to tell me about yourself so I won't pick up misinformation about you, that's fine. For everyone else, I prefer to form my own opinions. Those won't be based on anything you or others have said about them. They'll be based on my own observations after interacting with them."

"Which means you could be biased against them after a single bad first encounter," Naruto winced. "That makes me want to tell you even more about my friends so you won't be set against them just because they rubbed you the wrong way the first time you met."

"You can't control everything. Expecting me to like your friends just because you do is ridiculous. I'm nothing like you. At best you should expect me to tolerate them for your sake. I'll do that whether they 'rub me the wrong way' or not. Anything beyond that is between me and them."

Naruto couldn't argue with his logic so he sulked instead. "I really want you to like them..."

"Then for your sake I hope I do," Sasuke drawled. He wasn't bothered by the reproachful look Naruto shot him. Although he accepted that it meant a lot to Naruto he also considered it ridiculous to have such unrealistic expectations. He wouldn't pretend otherwise. If Naruto was stubbornly determined to set himself up for disappointment that was his problem. Sasuke didn't need to like any of the people Naruto surrounded himself with. As far as he was concerned Naruto should be more worried about how his friends would react to him. They were the ones with good reason to be biased against him from the start.

"Do all of your friends know about your obsession with me?" asked Sasuke. "You said Sakura guessed about my neck. Does that mean they aren't aware of the exact nature of our relationship?"

"They don't know about how I propositioned you if that's what you mean. They know you're the one I've been fixated on, though. They won't be surprised to find out we're living together because it would be weird for me to let you out of my sight now that you're finally here. But, yeah, they'll probably guess the rest. It's no secret that I'm very open-minded when it comes to sex. Between my sexy jutsu and my first editions of Icha Icha most people expected me to start dating years ago. My friends are the only ones who know why I haven't. They'll assume we're lovers whether we admit it or not."

"You don't have to lie to them or keep it a secret for my sake. I'd rather they not have all of the details, though."

"I know." Naruto gave him a teasing grin. "No bragging about hickies. I got it. Most of my friends wouldn't want to hear the details even if I did try to share. Kiba is the only one comfortable talking about that sort of thing and that's mostly just positions and techniques. We never talk about specific people or anything. Honestly, I can't see myself talking about anything where you're concerned. I don't want other people thinking about you that way, not even my friends. That's a side of you only I get to see and it's going to stay that way."

"Will they be disturbed that I'm an Uchiha?" He wondered if that would bother them more than the fact that he was male.

"They won't be disturbed by that," Naruto frowned. "Are you worried about that? My friends are all my age, so they don't have the biases against your clan that some of the older people are still clinging to. They're all chunin and up, well aware of how important the truce is for us. They might worry that I'll take advantage of your sharingan to try things I'm not ready for, but I can reassure them on that account. My dad will probably forbid you from using genjutsu on me anyway, if he hasn't already."

"He has."

"Thought so." Naruto sighed in annoyance. "He should know I'm not that reckless. I wouldn't even consider asking you to help me with my training until I'm done helping you with yours. My friends are going to like that," he smiled suddenly. "Iruka-sensei isn't the only one who is going to enjoy the fact that training you means I'll be learning new things myself. You're just what I needed to get me out of the rut I've been in."

"How are you in a rut?" Between Naruto's chakra level and the jutsus Kakashi had copied there should be no end to the things he could learn. That didn't even count his father, the two sannin, and any other qualified shinobi Konoha had eager to teach their future kage.

"Bunshin and rasengan," Naruto admitted with a wry smile. "That's all I really do because usually it's all I need. Rasengan is my strongest technique. I've improved on it to the point where it's on par with any of the kage-level jutsus. I won't say it's finished, but it's as strong as I can make it right now. And that's all I've got. One original technique and lots of bunshin. Compared to you or Kakashi I'm as unversatile as they get. I can already tell I'll have to try new things if I want to work with you. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't felt this motivated in a long time."

"Then why are we walking around instead of training?" This tour of the village wasn't very useful. He didn't need to know where Naruto's friends lived when they were nothing but names to him. It might have been different if Naruto had been showing him some of the other training grounds the village had. He honestly wasn't the slightest bit interested in the residential parts of the village because he couldn't see himself coming through here on his own.

"I wanted to give you a chance to see more of the village," Naruto explained. "Do you want to see where the Uchiha clan used to live? We could check out the house while we're out there."

"Alright." He was curious to see where in this seemingly packed village the clan had manged to isolate itself before leaving altogether.

Naruto eagerly led the way. As Sasuke followed along he turned his attention away from the buildings and back to the people. The further they moved from the heart of the village the fewer civilians he spotted. Most of the people they crossed paths with were shinobi, and they were moving with a purpose. A few of them nodded to Naruto, but they didn't linger. Sasuke wondered how much of that was due to him. Naruto should have given the village time to get used to his presence before parading him around in front of them. They were walking along the crest of a hill when Sasuke caught sight of the lake. He was so shocked he stopped in his tracks. He didn't know how long he stood there staring down at it before Naruto noticed and came back to him.

"What's wrong?"

"I know this," Sasuke said blankly. It was an exact replica of the lake within the clan compound. Except the clan had obviously replicated theirs from this one. Why? Of all the things for them to have taken from Konoha. Even the narrow dock was the same. He tried to tear his eyes away, to take in the surroundings instead, the little row of trees circling the far side of the water which was nothing like the hard packed training areas that circled the lake in his own home. His hands curled into fists as he marveled at the irony of it. This lake was the one thing he wouldn't have minded never seeing again. He wasn't aware that he had started down the hill until Naruto caught his arm.

"Sasuke?"

"We have a lake like this," he muttered. He shook Naruto off his arm and caught his hand instead, drawing him along until they were standing at the edge of the dock. Even the way the sun struck the surface of the water was the same. He might as well have been back in Sand. He had no doubts that the clan had used this lake the same way they had their own. They wouldn't have duplicated it so precisely if it hadn't been an important part of their tradition. He wanted to destroy it. A strange smile pulled at his lips as he released Naruto's hand and turned to look at him. "What does your village use this lake for?"

"Nothing as far as I know." Naruto sent an uncertain look from him to the water. "There aren't any fish in this lake. It's just part of the scenery, I guess." His expression pulled into a worried frown. "Why? What does your clan use your lake for?"

A rite of passage which he had failed miserably. His smile widened into a dark smirk. "Would you like to see my strongest technique, Naruto? I'd like to see yours. Since your village doesn't use this lake for anything in particular it shouldn't matter if we disturb the water a little. Right?"

"You don't have to convince me," Naruto grinned. "I wouldn't have mentioned rasengan if I weren't looking forward to showing it to you. This is as good a place as any. We'll get wet if I throw it in the water, though."

"I won't mind," Sasuke promised.

Rather than be suspicious of his tone, Naruto laughed, his eyes glittering deviously. "I don't know if you're taunting me or being playful, but whatever it is I like it. Prepare to be impressed." He created two shadow clones and held out his right hand. Chakra coalesced into a swirling ball of pale blue in his palm, fed and stabilized by Naruto and one of the clones. Sasuke activated the sharingan so he could follow and fully appreciate the technique. Judging by Naruto's expression he liked that, too. "This is the rasengan," Naruto explained. "By itself it can blow a hole in just about anything. My dad can do this. What I've done is take it a step further by adding wind to the mix."

Naruto used both clones for that, and even with the sharingan Sasuke didn't know how he managed to manipulate the element the way he did. Blades erupted out of the ball until it looked like a large windmill shuriken made entirely of chakra. He couldn't imagine the sort of damage an attack like that would do to a human. He vaguely heard Naruto explain that he could make it much bigger by using more chakra. As far as he was concerned it was already large enough to be overkill. He caught Naruto's eye and brought his hands together. "Throw it high over the lake." He was very gratified when Naruto did just that without a moment's hesitation. He took a deep breath and performed the quickest and most intense fire jutsu he could.

He only had a split second to watch the two elements collide before they exploded in an enraged whoosh. He grabbed Naruto and flashed him to the top of the hill, pushing him face down in the grass and covering him just as the swirling mass of heat swept over them. Naruto immediately twisted to look back at the water and Sasuke did the same. The wind had whipped the fireball into a vortex of dark red that appeared to burrow into the rapidly evaporating water. He slowly sank back on his heels so Naruto could sit up. The immediate danger was over. Now it was just a matter of enjoying the carnage. The dock was torn away and the grass at the base of the hill had been singed badly. But the water was every bit as deep as he had known it would be. It whirled along the shore as the fiery tunnel bit into the center of it, only slowing once the fire finally burned itself out. The air was hazy and dark clouds began to form, eager to dump some of the moisture back where it had come from. Sasuke rose, absentmindedly brushing grass off his pants. In retrospect a sustained katon performed from a distance would have done far more damage. It was only when Naruto jumped to his feet and grabbed him by the arms that he acknowledged there would be repercussions for this. At the moment he didn't particularly care.

"Sasuke! Holy shit, Sasuke!" Naruto's voice was high and frantic and apparently ecstatic. Sasuke blinked at him in dumb surprise. "That was fucking awesome!" Naruto crowed. "I can't believe you!" He grabbed him in a painfully tight embrace only to push him back to arms' length again. "My dad is going to kill us," he grinned. "Just so you know. But as soon as he's done punishing us he's going to want to see us do that again. We'll have to work on making it even bigger before we name it. I can't wait!"

Sasuke winced when he was promptly hugged again. Naruto didn't squeeze as tightly this time, but he held on for a lot longer. Someone was bound to come and investigate and he didn't want to be caught like this. He tugged awkwardly on the back of Naruto's jacket. "I'm ready to accept whatever punishment the Hokage assigns. Let's go find out what it is before the rain starts." And before the curious onlookers began to gather.

"That's the spirit," Naruto beamed, letting him go. "Don't let him make you regret this, either. Everyone is entitled to have a little fun now and then and that was awesome. I didn't know you had it in you and I'm so glad you do. Come on. We can celebrate after we get the confessing out of the way."

Sasuke seriously doubted he would be in the mood to celebrate anything once he had to face the consequences of this. Right now, as he took one last look at the pathetically depleted lake with the bits of shattered and singed wood floating on its surface, he appreciated Naruto's attitude. He had done it more for revenge than 'fun' and the satisfaction he felt was definitely worth it. Having an enthusiastic partner in crime didn't hurt, either. He was to find himself even more pleased and impressed by Naruto once they were standing before the Hokage. Somehow Naruto managed to twist things around so that he was boasting of the damage they had caused rather than apologizing for it.

"It could have gotten completely out of control," the Hokage pointed out, sounding more exasperated than angry.

"No one was around, and I was never in any danger. Sasuke covered me." If Naruto's grin got any wider it would split his face. "He rushed me to a safe distance and threw himself over me."

Tired blue eyes flicked to him, and Sasuke struggled to meet them evenly. Inside he cringed at the way Naruto was heaping implications onto what had merely been a reflex action on his part. He wondered if Naruto was really reading that much into it, or if he was just hoping his father would. "He didn't know what I was going to do, just that I promised to show him my strongest technique."

"And was it your strongest?" the Hokage asked skeptically.

"Given the range and speed necessary, yes."

"The fire was a lot hotter than what he used in the forest," Naruto put in eagerly. "Much more concentrated. It seared right into the heart of my rasengan before flaring out. You won't believe the funnel it made. If I had used a bigger rasengan-shuriken it would have burned up the whole lake."

"Then it's a good thing you didn't." That clipped tone managed to curb some of Naruto's enthusiasm, though it didn't put so much as a dent in the smug pride shining off his face. "This sort of experimentation is precisely what I warned you against attempting without supervision. It's very nice that Sasuke was considerate enough to protect you, but his safety is also important. Did you forget that?"

"Of course not!"

"I wasn't in any danger," Sasuke stated. The Hokage's attention snapped back to him. He was surprised at himself. He hadn't intended to argue with anything the man said. What he had done was reckless and pointless and he had no justification to offer in his defense. His only consolation was that no one had been injured. There were no stipulations in the terms this man had set for him that prohibited attacking a lake. He was bemused to find himself seriously tempted to point that out. Something was clearly wrong with him.

"You don't know that. You had no idea what would happen, so don't claim otherwise. I expect this sort of thing from Naruto, but I'm very disappointed to find you're as rash and impulsive as he is. I expected better from an Uchiha."

He really wasn't rash or impulsive, but he couldn't blame the man for getting that impression. He dropped his eyes, accepting the criticism. He had never done anything like this and wouldn't have had he been at home. He wondered what had influenced him more, the fact that Konoha's lake was the original one or the fact that this man's disappointment meant nothing to him. As an Uchiha he should be ashamed of himself. Personally he didn't care.

"Stop it," Naruto scoffed. "I know better." Sasuke sent him a sharp look and he frowned back at him. "He doesn't mean that, Sasuke. He's just picking on you." He folded his arms over his chest and scowled at his father. "You can't tease Sasuke that way. He'll take you seriously. What we did was harmless fun and you know it."

"I know no such thing. That lake may no longer have a function in the village but it remains an important landmark that you had no right to deface. You have one week to restore it to its original condition. Consider yourself forbidden from attempting any combination attacks until further notice. You can shelve the rasengan until I'm confident you've learned your lesson. I won't restrict you from using katon," he said to Sasuke, "but only because it's an Uchiha tradition. I do, however, insist that you be more responsible with your jutsus. You will find that the terrain is far more flammable here in Konoha than it was in Sand." Naruto snorted at that, and he shot him a narrow-eyed look. "Would you like me to forbid you from using bunshin when you repair the lake? That would certainly even out the distribution of work between the two of you. I'm sure Sasuke won't mind."

Naruto winced, flashing a weak smile. "No, I'm sorry. We'll get it fixed up as good as new, I promise."

"And?" his father drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"And we're sorry for using advanced ninjutsu outside of a restricted training area," Naruto said promptly, with only a slightly cheeky smile. "It won't happen again."

"It had better not. Now get out of here."

Naruto caught Sasuke's hand and hurried him out of the room. He spotted a glimpse of a smile on the man's face out of the corner of his eye, then the guard stationed outside the office shut the door behind them. Naruto was laughing by the time they exited the tower. That drew enough curious attention from the people on the street that Sasuke held his silence until they were safely in the privacy of Naruto's apartment.

"Why wasn't he more angry?" asked Sasuke.

"Over what? Some boiled water and a dock? No one was hurt. No one was even around, and we can fix the mess we made. If anything he's probably relieved we didn't do that in a training ground or we might have caught the forest on fire. That lake is the deepest body of water in the village so if we were going to do it somewhere that was the best spot. Not that he can approve of it, of course. We'll have to leave the village in order to experiment with this for real. That's the real reason he forbid us from trying that again. He doesn't want us going anywhere just yet. I think he was more shocked than anything. What happened, Sasuke? Have I rubbed off on you already?"

"No." If anything he had been the one taking advantage of Naruto. He wouldn't press the point, though. Naruto seemed eager to take credit.

"Are you sure about that?" Naruto sidled up to him with a taunting smile. "It sure looks that way to me. Here I was convinced you were too repressed to have a wild streak. You really surprised me."

And pleased him, apparently. He watched as Naruto eased as close as he could get without touching him. He wasn't especially wary of his strange mood, just curious. "What?"

Naruto let out a slightly evil little laugh. "I want to play some more. Now that I know you can play."

"I wasn't playing back there."

"Sure you were. And you enjoyed it, too. I should have sparred with you instead of showing you around. That's what you wanted to do. I'll make it up to you. We can start on the cleanup tomorrow, and check out the house, too. Today we're going to have fun." With a mischievous grin, he ducked over to dig in the closet. He returned a moment later to dangle something familiar in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke's expression dropped into one of severe annoyance. If Naruto thought that was his idea of 'fun' he was insane. "Where did you get that?"

"You're not the only one to pass Kakashi's bell test," Naruto smirked. "The only difference is that I kept mine." He reached over and tied it to Sasuke's hip, smiling at his startled expression. "We'll take turns. Just remember that it's a game, not a test. We can start one-on-one with taijutsu only and then pick it up from there. What do you say?"

"Which training ground?" Wearing the bell himself changed everything. Now it was just a question of whether or not Naruto held back enough to annoy him. His own taijutsu was weaker, but he was confident Naruto would have to put forth a reasonable effort in order to get the bell back, especially in a one-on-one fight.

"The forest," Naruto conceded with a knowing smile. "You like it better there, and we're less likely to be interrupted. Just let me pack real quick. If we advance to weapons I'll need more than I usually carry."

If they included weapons in this they would have to find that open training ground Kakashi had taken him to. Sasuke hoped they would. Even if Naruto wasn't as skilled with weapons as he was in taijutsu his clones could provide a serious challenge for him. He quickly outfitted himself in his own gear, which fit far more comfortably than anything borrowed would have.

It wasn't until they were rushing along the rooftops that he wondered if he shouldn't have given in so quickly. Naruto had claimed he was difficult to read, yet when it came to training he was incredibly transparent. Naruto could easily take advantage of that in order to manipulate him. Perhaps that was fair, though. His desire to get stronger could easily be compared to Naruto's desire for sex and contact. If necessary they could satisfy those desires alone, but they both resented being forced to. The key difference was that Sasuke could learn from anyone whereas Naruto had only him to turn to. Growing stronger might prove beneficial to others aside from himself but Sasuke didn't consider his desire any less selfishly motivated than Naruto's. It was what he liked, what he craved, what he was never satisfied without. To him, that sounded a lot like lust. He wondered what Naruto would think about that. He'd probably be jealous. If his feelings when facing a challenging opponent could be equated to attraction then Naruto might even consider it being unfaithful. He smirked at the thought. There was definitely something wrong with him today.

An hour later found Sasuke still amused. Naruto really did have a problem controlling his temper. And his jealousy was not limited to humans. Considering the way he had joked about the girl at the ramen stand showing interest in him, it was ridiculous that he felt threatened by a snake. Sasuke had been just as surprised as Naruto by the creature's continuing loyalty, but he was smart enough to see the benefits of it. Nothing could enter the training ground with the enormous serpent circling the perimeter.

"Why are you so upset?" Sasuke drawled, not minding the glare Naruto shot him.

"Because you keep touching it!" Naruto growled, his face flushed and his hands curled into fists. "If you'd stop feeding it chakra maybe it would go away."

"I don't want it to go away," Sasuke pointed out. "And I am not feeding it chakra. It just likes the feel of it." He wasn't sure why. Each time he neared the edge of the training ground the snake tensed in anticipation. It only took a light brush of contact to satisfy it, which although curious was better than the alternative. He hadn't needed to reapply the genjustu or feed it. All the snake seemed to want was a bit of contact now and then. He had no problem delivering that, especially since it annoyed Naruto so badly. "If it bothers you that much, all you have to do is keep me away from the perimeter. It's not my fault you're reluctant to attack me seriously."

Naruto squinted at him for a long moment and then gaped. "You're doing it on purpose!"

"Obviously," Sasuke snorted. He casually stepped back to lean against the cool scales. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Exactly what you want," Naruto snapped. His hands finally flashed through the kage bunshin jutsu. He hadn't wanted to use it because doing so meant admitting he couldn't get the bell in a one-on-one taijutsu-only fight. He just wasn't fast enough when he was unwilling to cause the sort of damage that might have slowed Sasuke down. He was stubborn to a fault, though. He probably would have kept trying all day if it weren't for the snake.

Sasuke rushed back into the center of the training ground to keep the fight away from the snake. It hadn't made any move to attack Naruto and he wanted to keep it that way. Three clones didn't make a huge difference, but he appreciated the capitulation enough to stop evading and start countering the taijutsu Naruto threw at him. He was quite strong even when holding back, and he had moves Sasuke had never seen before. It didn't take Sasuke long to realize he also had a smooth system when it came to working in unison with his clones. Rather than attacking him directly they left that to Naruto. Their aim was the bell and since there were only three of them they were too strong for him to take them out with taijutsu alone. He would have to land a deadly blow to manage that and they weren't sticking close enough. His attention was split between warding off Naruto's attacks and evading the clones' sweeping grabs at him. The sharingan enabled him to remain a few steps ahead so long as he could see them. That didn't help much when they kept dashing in at his back. Naruto dropped in an attempt to kick his feet out from under him. He jumped back, twisting around as he did so to counter the clone that tried to catch him from behind. The other two clones flanked him, but instead of reaching for the bell they jammed his forehead protector over his eyes. He stumbled, lashing out blindly only to meet thin air as the clones were dispelled. He didn't need to hear the quiet jingling to know Naruto had gotten it away from him.

Sasuke wrenched the forehead protector off his head and turned to glower at Naruto's smug expression. "We both know I can't get that back from you using nothing but taijutsu. I wouldn't have gotten Kakashi's if I hadn't used that genjutsu on him."

"I wonder about that," Naruto smirked. "I bet you could have gotten it from him without that if it had been a mission and you didn't have to worry about killing your opponent. Since this is just for fun we won't get that serious about it." He clipped the bell to his hip and waved Sasuke over to him. "Here's the deal. You can use weapons, but no sharingan or body flicker. My clones will be armed, but only for defense. I'll be sticking to taijutsu. And," he raised a hand to tug on his own forehead protector. "I'll be blind this time."

"I don't need that much of an advantage," Sasuke muttered.

"In that case you better make this look really easy," Naruto taunted. "I'll set an extra clone to the side so I can see what happens if you take all of the others out."

If? That meant Naruto was probably going to make quite a few clones. He considered it for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. "Are you counting chakra wire as a weapon?"

"Not as long as you don't add any jutsus to it. If you're just going to use it to make sure you don't lose contact with your weapon, that's fine. You shouldn't have to worry about that, though. My clones will be using their weapons to block yours, not to disarm you."

Naruto was seriously underestimating him. He decided not to be insulted. It would be interesting to see how long it took him to realize his mistake. He tied the forehead protector back on and deactivated the sharingan as Naruto took up position opposite the training post. He created a small army of clones, each armed with a kunai and a grin, and sent a lone one to Sasuke. The clone winked as he sauntered past and hopped up to stand on the post where he'd have a clear view of the action. Naruto ducked into the center of the clones.

"Okay," the clone on the post said to Sasuke. "He's blindfolded. Ready when you are."

Sasuke shook his head at the clone's teasing tone. This was such a ridiculously unfair fight. He doubted it could even be considered training. He took out a long curl of chakra wire and affixed one end of it to his left wrist. Naruto had said he wasn't to add any jutsus to it, which he took to mean no reinforcing his chakra with fire or lightning. As if he needed either to dispatch clones. Unless they were self-replicating, that was. He shot a quick look at the clone behind him. "Will Naruto be replacing any clones I take out?"

"No. He won't be using anything but taijutsu from here out."

He might as well be binding his hands as well as his eyes, then. Sasuke took out one of the long senbon that had been part of his own equipment, and sniffed it carefully. As expected they had cleaned it before returning it. He wrapped the loose end of the wire around the center and tossed it lightly in his palm. Without the sharingan it was difficult to make out the thin needle, let alone the wire.

"That's what you're planning to use?" the perched clone asked with a wince. "They're armed with kunai, you know."

"You're here to watch," Sasuke reminded him coolly, "not provide commentary." He was fully aware of the skeptical looks on the clones facing him. A kunai would have made much more sense had he intended to match blades with them. But they were only armed for defense while Sasuke was now armed to kill.

He rushed directly at the cluster, curious to see if they would disperse or hold their ground. The ones facing him tensed, pressing tighter together. He threw his arms out to the sides, flicking the senbon away and yanking it back the moment he felt it make contact. He was rewarded with a quiet poof and a visible ripple of confusion from the clones directly in front of him.

"Oh, that's bullshit," the clone behind him groaned, having realized Sasuke's intentions. "Spread out, you guys. You're fish in a barrel!"

So much for it being a quiet observer. Sasuke didn't mind enough to complain. He much preferred having moving targets over stationary ones. The outer clones to his left ducked when he sent the senbon out again, leaving him to dispatch one of the clones directly behind them. One of them swiped at the wire and he caught the kunai with his chakra, wrenching it away.

"That's not fair!" the disarmed clone yelped.

Sasuke might have smirked if he hadn't been busy. Being limited to defense put the clones directly in his path at a severe disadvantage. They obviously considered ganging up on him offensive and there were too many of them for their taijutsu to hold up one-handed. Sasuke took advantage of their reluctance to risk cutting him with their weapons. He caught the wrist of a kunai-wielding clone and used him to slash two of his companions. The clone quickly dropped the weapon so he shoved him back into the others. Unarmed they were defenseless and they knew it. Naruto hadn't thought this through at all. If it weren't for the angry faces before him he might have thought Naruto had done this on purpose to help him get over the grudge he had admitted to having against his clones. As it was they looked far too frustrated for this to be a deliberate set-up. He would have felt sorry for them if they hadn't been so stubbornly determined not to attack him even in their own defense. He continued to target their outer ranks, using their own weapons against them and relying on the senbon to cut down the ones further away. By the time he caught his first glimpse of Naruto at the center of the thinning ranks, the clone behind him was yelling out frustrated suggestions and warnings. Some of the remaining guard finally took his advice to heart and began making swipes and grabs at him when he edged in too close. They were still reluctant to risk cutting him, though, so he had no trouble evading.

He jumped into the air and tossed the senbon at the blindfolded Naruto. More than one pair of startled blue eyes flashed up at him before the clones on the inside turned and dogpiled Naruto. He nearly laughed at the sight. Startled and confused, Naruto took four of them out before the others talked him down. Sasuke continued to target him, enjoying the way he flinched and squirmed as he struggled not to lash out at the over-eager protectors jostling him around. He waited until there were only three clones left before catching the senbon in his right hand and going in for a direct attack. One clone took up a defensive stance in front of Naruto, leaving the other two to meet him head on. Faced with the prospect of losing they were far more willing to risk injuring him. But, like Naruto, they didn't count the chakra wire as a weapon. They were expecting him to counter their attacks with the senbon, so they pulled up when he threw it between them. The third clone shoved Naruto to the ground and dodged the senbon easily. He didn't dodge the wire. With a twist of his wrist Sasuke had it around his neck, yanking him off his feet and dispatching him before he could hit the ground. He caught one of the remaining clones in the back of the neck when he retrieved the weapon. At that, the final clone abandoned his defense-only position and attacked him with what he suspected was serious intent. He drew the fight out, holding the senbon in his left hand to block the kunai and making glancing blows with his right.

The clone glared at him, but his lips were pulled into a tight smile. "What are you waiting for, Sasuke? I thought you were going to make this look easy. Are you afraid to attack my real body head on even when I'm blindfolded?"

"Is that what you think?" He gave a dark smile and fired the senbon over his shoulder. "It's a shame you aren't there to protect him."

The clone shot him a look filled with disbelief and whipped around to warn Naruto. It was already too late. Naruto flinched and lifted his arms. The senbon clipped the string to the bell, chakra holding it fast as Sasuke darted around the clone and yanked the prize to him. He halted a few feet from Naruto, who was still awaiting an attack. Sasuke sent the scowling clone an amused look and jingled the bell to clue Naruto in.

"I seriously thought you were going to kill me for a second there," the clone grumbled accusingly. "This is just a game, you know. You didn't have to scare me like that."

Sasuke turned his back on the clone to eye Naruto instead. "You should know better," he said to Naruto. "Killing you is the same as killing my clan. I would never risk that."

Naruto pushed the forehead protector off his eyes and sent him a confused look. "What are you talking about? And how did you get the bell? I didn't hear you anywhere near me."

"Dispel your clones," Sasuke suggested.

"Don't pay any attention to him," Naruto said, after he'd done so. "He was just upset after watching you take the others out, because he knew you could have finished him off quickly if you had wanted to. I know you weren't really trying to kill me."

"I should hope so." If Naruto wanted to deny that he had suffered a moment of doubt he wouldn't call him on it. He didn't blame him for it, either. He pocketed the bell and brushed by Naruto. "Come with me."

"Where?"

"To pet my snake." He sent an amused look over his shoulder. "Stop acting jealous and I might consider petting you as well." That did it. Naruto's mouth dropped open and a faint blush rose to his cheeks. Sasuke smirked. "If you ask me, sex on a giant snake would be far more interesting than sex in a tree."

"Holy shit," Naruto blurted, in a scandalized whisper. "You might be more kinky than I am..."

"Don't count on it. I was just making an observation." He jumped up to walk along the loosely coiled snake, with Naruto keeping pace from the ground. He could tell from the suspicious way he was watching him that he was trying to figure out if he'd been serious or not. Judging by his eventual frown he had probably reached a negative conclusion. That was just as well. Although the idea amused him he couldn't quite see himself going through with it. Even if the snake wasn't in a position to view what they were doing it would certainly feel it. The thought of anyone, even an animal, witnessing that turned his stomach. If he did something like that he might as well include 'certain food products' while he was at it.

"You're a tease," Naruto muttered accusingly. "You just said that to mess with my head."

"You don't even like seeing me touch this snake," Sasuke pointed out reasonably. "Would you really want to do sexual things while we're in contact with it?"

"Hell no!"

"Exactly. So stop sulking and come help me look."

Naruto blinked in surprise and leapt up beside him. "You're looking for something?"

"Marks, scars, sensitive spots, any evidence that it might have been controlled or trained in the past. The genjutsu I cast has completely worn off. There is no reason for it to have sought us out again."

"It sought you out, not us. It probably has a crush on you."

He ignored that bit of childishness. "You said the large cats resist training. Does anyone in this village interact with these snakes before they reach their full growth? It should take more than a single genjutsu to make one so interested in humans."

"They never leave the forest so no one bothers with them. Anko is the only snake summoner in Konoha and as far as I know she doesn't mess with the domestic ones. The only one I know who 'interacted' with these snakes is Orochimaru. I wish you'd stop acting like him."

Sasuke turned a cold stare on him until he shifted guiltily. "You'll have to explain that. From what little I've heard about the leader of Sound the only thing we have in common is our affinity to snakes. If you're going to compare me to your enemy there had better be more similarities than that."

"There aren't," Naruto said quietly. "Sorry. I didn't mean that. Honestly, your interest in snakes isn't any worse than the Aburame clan and their bugs. It just disturbs me because I don't get it. I want to share your interests and when it comes to snakes I really don't. I don't know if I ever will."

"You don't need to. I certainly don't share your interest in toads." Naruto actually looked hurt by that. He raised an eyebrow. "Domestic frogs and toads are slimy noisy creatures useful only in insect infested areas. They're thin-skinned and easily squashed. If you touch them they urinate on you. Some are toxic enough to kill but only those foolish enough to try eating them. Of all the species a shinobi could choose to summon a toad would have to be the one I understand the least. That doesn't mean I think any less of you for preferring them. I doubt you chose to have an affinity for toads any more than you chose to have an affinity for wind. I don't have either and I couldn't change that even if I wanted to. If seeing me interact with snakes disturbs you that badly, I'll stop doing it when you're around. I don't think I should have to, though. If you wanted to investigate the domestic toads in this forest I would be perfectly willing to join you even though I don't share your interest in them."

Naruto started to scuff his feet before remembering he was standing on a snake. He folded his arms over his chest instead. "I'm still coming to grips with how different we are," he said, with an apologetic smile. "Snakes and toads. It's like we have nothing in common. Your summon wants to bite me and mine wants to swallow you. Yeah," he nodded, "it's the hair. He says it's too neat and he'd like to gum it up. He has the same problem with Neji so it's nothing personal. Anyway, I can tell we're going to run into the same issue with all sorts of things. I'm ready to bend as much as possible, but I can't help worrying it won't be enough. Even if I do get used to your snakes it's still going to bother me that you're more affectionate with them than you are with me."

"Affectionate?" He let out an exasperated snort. "It's absurd for you to be jealous of an animal, Naruto. I wouldn't hesitate to kill this snake if it suited my purposes. I have no 'affection' for it. You might consider your summons 'friends' but mine are little more than tools to me. We use each other because it's beneficial for us to do so. Don't let Terra's attitude fool you. He would have killed me years ago if he hadn't decided I was more useful to him alive."

"I don't believe you," Naruto said flatly. "If I killed this snake right now you wouldn't forgive me."

"Because it would be a waste."

"Because you like it," Naruto insisted. "It's the same thing with your summon. You're as fond of him as you would be of a troublesome kid. And it's mutual. I could see that as plain as day."

"Then you're only seeing what you want to see." He was wasting his breath. He continued along the snake's body until he was close enough to the head for it to look back at him. There was no sign of the genjutsu he had cast or any other chakra affecting it. Its mind was simple and straight-forward, with nothing inherent in its nature to explain why it was interested in him. He lifted a hand and it pressed its snout against his palm right where he had healed it the other night. Maybe that had something to do with it. He passed some healing chakra into the spot and the snake's tongue flicked out, brushing a bit of his hair. That was a little too close. Removing his hand, he stepped back. The snake followed after him, proving it wasn't nearly as submissive as he had assumed. He was about to perform a genjutsu on it when Naruto suddenly grabbed him around the waist and jumped him into the trees. He tensed, as surprised by the sudden interference as he was by the fact that the snake dropped its head and made no attempt to follow them.

He twisted free when Naruto was slow to release him. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you won't forgive me if I kill your new pet," Naruto growled. "I brought you out here to spend time with me, not him."

"It," Sasuke corrected scathingly. "Unless you know more about that species of snake than I do, it could just as easily be female."

"Whatever. You told me not to be jealous and then you went right over and let it lick you. I know you did that on purpose. That's a dangerous game to play, Sasuke. I'm possessive enough without you making it worse."

It took him a moment to realize Naruto was trying to both warn and intimidate him. He stepped back to lean against the trunk of the tree, letting him know he had failed in the latter. "Explain. You found it amusing when that girl at the ramen stand showed interest in me. Why is it that didn't bother you yet you're jealous over an animal?"

"Of course Ayame-chan was attracted to you," Naruto said dismissively. "Lots of people are going to be. With your looks that's a given. I get some of that myself, especially with the civilians. I'm not going to be jealous because other people find you as good-looking as I do. That just makes me proud of the fact that you're mine. They can look all they want and they'll never get you. It's completely different when you're the one doing the touching. You were all over that snake, stroking and petting without it even having to ask you to. Yet you won't even come near me unless you have to."

The sheer absurdity of Naruto's complaint set him laughing. The laugh had a mocking ring to it, so he didn't blame Naruto for his angry flush. He grabbed the front of his jacket, jerking him over before he could get too worked up. "Think about what you're saying," he smirked. "Do you really want me to manipulate you like a small-minded animal? A meaningless pet now and then to keep you soothed and complacent? That's rather like what we already have. I was under the impression that you had higher hopes than that. Was I mistaken? If you want me to treat you like one of my snakes I can do that. I'll give you just enough 'affection' to keep you content and obedient. And then I'll dispose of you as soon as you've outlived your usefulness to me."

"You're not that cold."

"Yes, I am. Animals are nothing but tools to me."

Naruto didn't look entirely convinced. His expression was sober, though, his eyes probing. "And people?"

"Shinobi are tools. I've been used as one for most of my life. But I've never had one of my own." His eyes flicked from the hand he had curled in Naruto's jacket up to his wide eyes, and he snorted. "I wouldn't choose you for my first. You're not obedient enough."

"Well, you've got that right at least. I'm not a pet or a tool. And if you think I'm going to roll over any time you pet me, you can forget it."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Really? You rolled over fast enough last night." Naruto erupted and he yanked him forward, slipping off the branch so his fist crashed into the trunk of the tree. He rebounded off a lower branch and caught himself on a trunk across from him. "I never expected you to be so submissive," he admitted in a taunting tone. "I thought you were the type to go after what you want. Instead you slink around me like a dog hoping for a pat rather than a kick."

"You total bastard," Naruto yelped, whipping around with a face as red as Sasuke's eyes. "Are you trying to make me hurt you?"

"Would you like to?"

Naruto bristled furiously, his eyes darkening. "Right now I'd like nothing better than to plant a fist in your face," he growled. "You can't talk to me that way."

"You're my lover," Sasuke reminded him calmly. "I can be as honest with you as I like. As a pet you're pathetically obedient. As a person you only pretend to be. I don't like it. When you're angry enough to hit me, go ahead and try. If I'm not good enough to dodge then I deserve it. Those were your words. Why does that apply to me but not to you?"

"Because I can do a lot more damage," Naruto spat, swiping a hand at the fist-sized hole he'd made in the trunk. "And I know I won't back out of this no matter what. I'm in this for keeps. I'm not like you. All I'd have to do is cross the line with you once and you could just walk away. You have no idea how hard it is knowing that. I'm being as careful with you as I can be and instead of being grateful you keep throwing it in my face. I hate it!"

Sasuke jumped to the limb Naruto was on, noting the way he recoiled away from him. He remained in a crouch. "I'm not made of glass, Naruto. I'm not surrounded by eggshells, either. When you cross the line I will tell you. So long as you don't do it again it won't be a problem. As for walking away, I gave up that right the first time I had sex with you. You're more likely to back out of this than I am. You could have a better future with anyone in this village. I have no future at all without you. If this arrangement between us doesn't work I'll be little better than a walking corpse. Don't talk to me about walking away. You should know by now that I'd rather die."

"That doesn't make it any better," Naruto grimaced. He dropped down to sit across from him. "None of this is fair or right. I'd give anything for it to be easier."

"So far it's been much easier than I expected," Sasuke admitted. "If you didn't insist on acting like a meek housewife just waiting to be back-handed I wouldn't have any serious issues with you." He ignored the way Naruto choked at that comparison. "I am concerned with how much your father could prevent you from fulfilling your promises to me, though. He could seriously limit any training I receive. I'm relying on you to stand up to him and I'm not sure you're capable of it."

"You have a horrible opinion of me," Naruto cringed, sending him a pained look. "All because I was trying my hardest to be considerate last night? I know you called me a push-over, but I figured that was just you being a difficult asshole because you are one. I sure as hell wasn't worried about being back-handed. I'd welcome that because at least then I'd get a fight out of you instead of a cold shoulder." Anger flushed over him, narrowing his eyes in a squinty scowl. "You're lucky I have such a soft spot for you, Sasuke. If anyone else called me pathetic, submissive, obedient, and meek I would beat the hell out of them. I'm as far from those things as you can get."

"I hope so because those are not qualities I would want in a companion, let alone a lover."

"Yeah? Well, you have plenty of qualities I'd just as soon live without and you don't hear me complaining."

"No," Sasuke agreed. "Instead of complaining you sulk and pout and send me resentful looks. Much like the one you're giving me right now."

"This is not me sulking," Naruto bit out. "This is me trying very hard not to knock you off this tree. I don't know what crawled up your ass and died but you need to get it out of there because it really stinks."

Sasuke snorted. "Very mature. Nothing I say gets through to you, does it? You pretend to listen and it looks like I'm making a dent, but then you go right on doing whatever it is you've set your mind on doing. Remember this the next time you get upset because I won't talk to you. It's obviously a waste of time."

"I've been listening to everything you've said, unfortunately. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do about it."

"You'll do exactly what you would have done anyway," Sasuke sighed. "Just forget it. We're both rigidly set in our ways and stubborn to a fault. There's no point discussing things on which neither of us will yield. I apologize for trying." He rose to his feet and beckoned Naruto to stand. "Spar with me. That's what we're here for, and it's a far more productive use of our time."

"If we stop talking about this now without resolving anything it's the same as giving up," Naruto frowned. "I don't give up on anything."

"Put it aside for later or talk it over by yourself, then. I'm done." He dropped from the tree and was disappointed when Naruto didn't follow.

He didn't know why he couldn't just leave it alone. He obviously wasn't skilled enough at manipulation to get the reaction he wanted out of Naruto. No matter how angry he made him, he just sat there looking at him with those reproachful eyes of his. It was infuriating that he should be made to feel guilty when all he wanted was a fair exchange. Naruto kept going on about how he wanted to be as honest as possible with him, yet the moment he offered honesty in return Naruto retreated. He was only making things worse. Instead of inciting Naruto to stand up for himself he was simply kicking him while he was down. It left a bad taste in his mouth. He should never have called Naruto his lover. If he hadn't started viewing him that way he wouldn't be driven to turn him into the sort of lover he would have chosen. He was equating lover with partner and looking for an equal who could challenge him. That was his mistake. They were both male. If Naruto did learn to push for what he wanted he might very well find himself in the role of the meek little housewife. He would sooner bite off his own tongue. He really needed to just count his blessings and leave things as they were.

He created two shadow clones, had them activate the sharingan, and darted into the trees with his own inactive. It wasn't much of a chase. Their goal was to ground him using ambush attacks and taijutsu. He kept himself attached to the canopy with shuriken and chakra wire, which was much more difficult than he had expected. His aim was as accurate as ever, but he couldn't correctly judge the amount of chakra he used without the sharingan. He sliced through more branches than he caught. His reaction time was also slower. They could predict his moves, while he wasn't even sure which direction the attack would be coming from until it was too late. Every time he had a secure position one or both darted in to knock him loose, leaving him scrambling to catch himself before he could hit the ground. He felt rather like a spider with faulty webbing and was very glad he had no fear of heights. Each fall heightened his nerves, forcing him to be more careful with the chakra wire. During one he came within a hand's breadth of the ground and nearly dispatched the clone responsible. They found his plight as amusing as he would later and didn't hesitate to let it show.

He had just caught himself after a near miss when someone slammed into him from behind. He knew it wasn't one of his clones because he didn't cut the chakra wire until after slamming him securely into the trunk of a nearby tree. He twisted around only to have Naruto slap a hand over his mouth. Assuming they were under attack he froze and activated the sharingan. He was corrected when one of the clones was dispatched and the feedback hit him. It had been taken out by a flash of orange. He immediately dispelled the other clone so Naruto wouldn't have the satisfaction of taking it out as well. With a cold glare, he grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled the hand away from his mouth. Naruto kissed him before he could speak. He was startled enough that he almost responded. A tiny shift where his chakra was holding him in place brought him back to his senses. He shoved an arm up and forced Naruto back. "What are you doing?"

"Being pushy," Naruto muttered. "And inconsiderate. Just like you wanted."

Sasuke turned his face to the side and winced when Naruto's mouth moved to his neck instead. "Do you have to be such an extremist? I wasn't asking for you to-" He choked and flushed as Naruto ground his hips into him. How he could manage that sort of leverage in their precarious position was beyond him. "We can't do anything here," he blurted. They didn't even have a branch to rest their weight on.

"We could if I borrowed some of that chakra wire and lashed you to the tree. That's what an extremist would do. Me, I'm just being pushy." He levered himself back enough to catch Sasuke's eyes. "You confuse the hell out of me. If I'm about to cross a line with you, you'd better tell me. I want to make this better, not worse."

"Cutting me with my own chakra wire would be crossing the line. Sex in the forest is nothing more than a promise I haven't yet made good on. I expect you to make good on your promises. You shouldn't expect any less from me. Just find a strong enough branch first. I'd rather not fall partway through."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "This is what you wanted, then?"

"Not this in particular," Sasuke admitted wryly. "I just want you to stop tiptoeing around me. With regards to everything. I shouldn't have to offer you what you want because you're too hesitant to push for it. To me, if you don't want it badly enough to fight for it then you don't need it. If you want anything beyond the bare minimum from me, you'll have to make it worth my time. Speaking of which..." He released the chakra holding him in place and slipped out from under him, catching himself a few feet down the trunk. "You refused to spar with me and then interrupted my training. You owe me. I want five bunshin in the trees armed with weapons for me to deflect. I'll stand there." He pointed to a small clearing to the side of them. "If you can so much as brush me or my clothing, I'll meet you on the branch of your choice."

Naruto scowled suspiciously at him. "You're going to wear yourself out so you don't have enough chakra to do it in a tree. Again."

"My chakra reserves aren't that low. You certainly didn't make me use much earlier." He'd used more at the lake than he had against Naruto. "If your aim is so bad that I'm worn out by the time you scratch me, I'll leave it to you to make sure I don't fall out of the tree. Just try to accomplish it before nightfall." He started to turn away and then paused to send a taunting look over his shoulder. "By the way, I'll be returning any weapons I catch. Have your bunshin prepared to dodge or you'll have to replace them." This time when Naruto's face flushed with anger he was confident he would act on it. For once, Naruto didn't disappoint him.

As expected, Naruto's bushin were nothing like his own. They wouldn't risk aiming at his back and they made no attempts to catch the weapons he returned. He dispatched three of them before they caught on to what he was doing. Naruto circled them at first, giving advice and retrieving the weapons they dodged or deflected. He got them coordinated so they were firing their weapons at him back to back but never simultaneously. That was just as well since they were aiming exclusively at his sides and legs, avoiding headshots entirely. He had to duck and crouch to catch any with his hands. Eventually he ducked too low and a kunai that had been aiming for his side ghosted through the back of his hair. Naruto immediately came down to guard his back, ignoring the fact that he had technically achieved his goal. Sasuke decided against pointing that out since his presence radically changed the clones' behavior. They targeted both of them, high and low, more than once with all five firing at the same time. Sasuke found it a struggle not to dodge in a way that would leave Naruto's back open. For his part, Naruto made it a point to deflect the weapons that came at him backward so Sasuke could redirect them. It wasn't long before all five bunshin had been dispatched.

"Now that was fun," Naruto grinned. "Gamakichi said something about you playing catch with yourself, but I had no idea this is what he meant. Next time you'll have to mix some of your own clones in with mine, that way they'll know where it's safe to aim."

"I want to learn to return them while traveling through the trees myself. That would work better with a few of your clones to supplement my own."

"And it'll get you more used to working in the trees. I was watching you with that chakra wire. It took me a while to figure out why you were having so much trouble. I would have jumped in a lot sooner if I had known you weren't using the sharingan."

"I shouldn't have needed it," Sasuke frowned. "My jounin instructor was better with chakra wire than I am and he didn't have any doujutsu to help him. I'll get better with practice."

Naruto laughed. "Then you'll be swinging from the trees instead of jumping from them like the rest of us. Why would you even want to do that?"

"Because he could." His eyes narrowed as he considered it. "At least he claimed he could. There weren't any forests within the clan compound so I suppose he might have been lying about that. Either way, now that I've tried it myself I know it can be done. I just need to work on my chakra control." Which, without the sharingan, remained as wasteful as ever. So much for the test Iruka had suggested. He didn't need to compare himself to someone else when all he had to do was deactivate the sharingan in order to see the difference.

"Is he the one who taught you to play catch with your chakra? Neji has a technique where he uses chakra to deflect weapons, but I don't know anyone who uses it to catch them."

"I do it to work on my reflexes and chakra control. I doubt it has any practical application in real combat. It's something I picked up to substitute for tree climbing. With the sharingan I can track the weapons even if I can't always concentrate my chakra quickly enough to hold them."

"It's definitely more fun than what I do to practice chakra control. I just make as many clones as I can and we all balance somewhere until we run out of chakra or fall. Talk about boring. You'll have to teach me how you do it. Then I can actually enjoy practicing."

"You'd have to start out slow," Sasuke warned. "I wouldn't recommend wasting chakra on bunshin until you can at least catch things you've thrown yourself. If you're determined to go all out then stick with rocks so the bunshin won't be expelled when they miss."

"Did you start with rocks?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"No," Sasuke drawled in amusement. "I started with sand. Considering how easily you move in the trees you can skip a lot further ahead than where I started." As many bunshin as Naruto could make to practice with it probably wouldn't take him long to get the hang of it. "Just remember to save a few bunshin to work with me. I need training more than you do."

"I haven't noticed that you need training in anything other than taijutsu. I know you didn't like your jounin instructor, but he must have done right by you because you're pretty well-rounded."

"Based on what? The fact that I'm accurate and quick enough to dodge? I had that before I developed the sharingan. You can't give that man credit for that." Naruto seemed to have meant it as a compliment. To him it was no different from his instructor telling him he didn't need to learn the replacement jutsu because he was good enough without it. That wasn't a compliment, it was an excuse. "Are you saying you won't train me?"

"No," Naruto smiled, his tone just patient enough to be very annoying. "I'm saying you don't need me to train you. You'd be fine without any help from me. If you got where you are on your own then you probably don't need anyone. You don't need training, Sasuke. You want training. I'm going to train you because I promised I would, but I'm going to enjoy it a lot more knowing it's what you want, not what you need. See the difference?"

He saw another semantic debate in the making. He shrugged dismissively. "So long as I receive the training you promised you can view it however you like. Now pick your branch while I deal with our guest."

"You should put him to sleep like you did last time." Naruto raised an eyebrow when Sasuke sent him a curious look. "What?"

"I didn't think you had noticed it was so close." The snake had approached so slowly he had thought Naruto too busy to notice. He certainly hadn't let it distract him or his bunshin from what they were doing.

"It's really big," Naruto drawled sarcastically. "It's hard not to notice something that huge creeping up on you. I'm a shinobi, too, you know."

"Of course you are," Sasuke murmured, knowing his tone would annoy him. He wondered exactly how close the snake had gotten before Naruto had noticed it. He wouldn't be surprised if Naruto had only spotted it after coming down from the trees to where he was at eye level with it. The snake had stopped a good distance away from them. It lifted its head quickly when Sasuke approached, its tongue flicking out at him.

"He's trying to lick you again," Naruto scowled as he followed along behind him.

"You're right," Sasuke said simply. He didn't know what to make of it. The snake wasn't the slightest bit wary of him, but it wasn't viewing him as prey, either.

"Don't get too close, okay? If he tries to wrap his tongue around you I'll have to chop it off. Sorry." He didn't sound the least bit sorry. "I know, it's just an animal and I shouldn't be jealous, but that's just how it is. Mine is the only tongue allowed to touch you and that's final."

Sasuke stared at him, both impressed and disturbed by how proudly he said that. "I'll remind you that I'm not the one who has been inside a snake's mouth. I wouldn't let this one wrap its tongue around me whether you were okay with it or not. Unlike you, I wouldn't be able to bust my way out. I'd probably suffocate before I could do enough damage to make it regurgitate me."

"Wow," Naruto blurted, blinking in surprise. "That's even more disturbing than the thought of it molesting you with its tongue."

"Shut up, Naruto." He turned away with a disgruntled frown. Now he had the sudden notion that the snake's interest in him was sexual in nature. Leave it to a self-proclaimed pervert to put that thought into his head. He activated the sharingan and took a probing look at the creature's mind. It had a strong interest in him, its natural caution pushed aside by curiosity, and yes there was a possessive quality to it. There was nothing sexual, however. That was all in Naruto's twisted imagination. It wanted to taste him to see what he was. That brief command for loyalty had convinced it that he wasn't predator or prey. In the snake's narrow view of the world that didn't leave anything else. It accepted him as a part of its territory to be defended. But he moved. If snakes had been maternal creatures Sasuke would have said it viewed him as a perplexing and willful child. It wanted to snap him up and take him back to its territory where it thought he belonged.

He firmly redefined things for it. He couldn't have it seeking him out any time he entered the forest. That might lead it to trying to follow him out when he left. He didn't want to curb its interest in him entirely, but he had to establish that he was in control. The genjutsu he used was only slightly stronger than the one he had cast on Iruka earlier. He was going to place a summoning seal on it so he wanted it free to refuse if it chose to do so. He would never be able to feed a snake this large. Interrupting it during a hunt would be as bad as forcing it to extend its territory and drawing it into conflict with others of the same size. He waited to see if the snake would resist, not approaching until it obediently dropped its head. This might work out just fine.

"Come with me," he said to Naruto.

"It's still awake," Naruto pointed out, following him warily. He was very uncomfortable with climbing on the creature's head while its eyes were watching them. "What are we doing, Sasuke? Do you want to ride on it somewhere?"

"No. I'm placing a seal on it so it can come when I call. If it wants to. Otherwise I'm going to keep using genjutsu to drive it off until it stops seeking me out on its own." He cut his palm, drew out the seal, and then offered the kunai to Naruto. "A few drops of your blood should be enough to keep it from attacking you by mistake."

"This won't mean I have a contract with it or anything, right? Because Gamabunta would not like that."

"It's not a contract," Sasuke assured him. "You won't even be able to summon it yourself. This is just a way to make sure it never tries to eat you." Once the seal was complete he healed his cut and rose to offer Naruto a smirk. "Now this snake would no sooner eat you than one of my kunai."

Naruto bristled as he caught his meaning. "So it's going to identify me as your tool?"

"My property," Sasuke confirmed.

"That's not right," Naruto blurted. "Having you claim me as your lover to your summon was fine, but property? That's...demeaning. No, I don't like it. Change it so the snake views me as your ally or something."

"Snakes don't have allies. It wouldn't understand that. This isn't a summon used to working with people. It's enough that it views you as part of my territory." He rather liked how bothered Naruto was to be viewed as a possession. Now he knew how it felt. "Do you want me to send it away or have it guard the area?"

"I want you to change that seal," Naruto grouched. "If I can't have that then get it out of here." He jumped to the ground and stomped away, grumbling under his breath about tools and snakes and a bad taste in pets.

The snake resisted Sasuke's request to leave so stubbornly that he had to make it an order. That proved he hadn't overdone his genjutsu this time. Once it was gone he tracked down Naruto. He was sitting on a thick branch, muttering under his breath with his arms folded over his chest. He didn't look up when Sasuke came to stand beside him.

"How long are you going to sulk?" Sasuke asked, only mildly curious.

"About as long as it takes to get you panting. That's right," Naruto said rudely, "you're not the only one who can say things that get you where it hurts. I could say a few things that would embarrass the hell out of you. Then you can be the one with his fist in a tree while I taunt you from a safe distance."

Sasuke sighed in annoyance. "Do we have to go through this discussion again?" He had already apologized for bringing it up.

"No. Once was enough. I don't know what I'd do if I had to listen to that again. Probably introduce you to bondage just to prove I'm not submissive and meek. That would go over real well, I'm sure." He rose and eyed Sasuke soberly. "I just have one question. You think I'm submissive because I bottomed to you last night. Do you feel that way about yourself when I top you?"

"Of course." The difference was he did it reluctantly while Naruto had invited it.

"So what does that make us when we do both?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his leading tone. "Strange?"

"Male," Naruto huffed in exasperation. "I should have seen this coming. You were so confused when I wanted you to top me that first time. Neither one of us is a woman, Sasuke. We don't have to be one or the other. In fact, we don't have to be either to have sex. We could just make out and stroke each other off if we wanted to. It's not about power, it's about pleasure. That's the same no matter who ends up where. It's just you and me feeling good together."

All of which sounded very romantic and unlikely. Sasuke wasn't buying it. "Homosexuality is a taboo in my clan. I didn't know it existed until I heard other shinobi speak of it. None of them ever admitted having bottomed."

Naruto grimaced in disgust. "That's because they were rapists bragging about their victims. You can't even count that as sex. It's sadism and torture and as far from sex as you can get. It kills me that you were anywhere near people like that. Any one of them could have tried something with you."

"They wouldn't have dared even if they had wanted to. Hiring me cost too much." His lips twitched when Naruto snorted at that. "Aside from a few of my targets, you're the only male I've ever met who was sexually attracted to me."

"Now that's impossible," Naruto said flatly. "I might be the first one bold enough to admit it to you, but even seriously straight guys lust after you. If you didn't notice it's just because you weren't looking for it." He tilted his head, giving him a long considering look. "I think I prefer you not noticing. So far every time we've walked through the village you've had at least one guy drooling over you. It's easier for me to ignore it when you don't even notice."

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"

"Yeah. You're too conceited to plead modesty. Don't bother fishing for compliments from me. It's not your ego I'm interested in stroking right now."

Sasuke scowled as he felt a blush heat his face. Evidently Naruto hadn't been bluffing about saying things that would embarrass him. He didn't like it one bit.

Naruto slipped past him and tilted his head back to eye the trunk of the tree. He ran a hand over the bark. Then he pulled two kunai and embedded them to the hilt as high as he could reach.

"Wind?" asked Sasuke. They'd gone in far too smoothly. He refused to believe Naruto was that strong.

"Yeah. I want them nice and sturdy."

"Why?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

Naruto turned with a smirk. "So you'll know there's at least one way you can use kunai during sex without it involving torture or bondage."

"I'd just as soon not use weapons at all," Sasuke informed him. He raised an eyebrow when Naruto openly scoffed at that.

"I don't believe that coming from the guy who wanted to do it on a giant snake. You're a lot more kinky than you let on. That or you just have a twisted sense of humor. Either way, I'm on to you now. It's only a matter of time before I figure you out. You'll have to work a lot harder to surprise me then."

"I'm not interested in surprising you. Learning to tolerate you would be enough for me."

"You're just saying that to annoy me because you don't want to admit you have a wild streak. You don't have to repress it so much, you know. This is Fire country. We're all about passion."

"Then it's a wonder the country hasn't burned to the ground with all of the trees here. Give it up, Naruto. All you're doing is making me wonder if your entire village is full of overly emotional perverts. You're also reading far too much into one off-handed comment. Just tell me what it is you want to do here so we can get on with it." Ignoring Naruto's pouting frown, he slipped past him to yank on one of the kunai. "What are they for?"

"I was working up to that," Naruto muttered crossly. "You make it really hard to set the mood for this sort of thing. It wouldn't kill you to work with me a little."

Sasuke turned, folding his arms over his chest and giving him a skeptical look. "I'm about about to have sex with you in a tree. I'd say I'm working with you enough as it is."

"And you say talking to me is a waste of time," Naruto glowered. "I'll have you know we're not going to have sex right now. Not the way you're thinking. I told you I'd have to plan that out and I didn't even bring the lotion with me. All I want to do is have a little fun with you."

"And I'm preventing that?"

"You're sure not making it easy." He gave a long sigh. "That's okay, though. I'm up for the challenge." He smiled brightly, once again shifting moods so quickly it was hard to believe. "Would you mind changing your outfit? Just the outfit this time. I want to show you why I like those shorts so much."

With a sigh, Sasuke performed the requested henge. He would much rather have done a full transformation. He altered the clothing to fit his taller form, but it still felt awkward to have his legs bare. He had stopped wearing shorts right after hitting his last growth spurt. Naruto didn't seem to notice how strange the outfit looked on him, though. He was too busy ogling the shorts. "Are you going to use bunshin to secure the area?"

"They're already in place," Naruto bragged. "You're not the only one good at hiding."

Sasuke quickly considered the area, wondering exactly where they were and how many he had passed on his way here. He was disturbed to think he might have passed close by one without spotting it. Had he been using the sharingan he would have seen their chakra, but he shouldn't need to rely on that in order to realize he wasn't alone. Either his other senses were dulling now that he had the sharingan or he was getting too used to Naruto's presence for it to register as a threat. Unfortunately he suspected it was the former. He wasn't sure what if anything he could do about that. "How close are they?"

"A few are close, the rest are spaced out. Don't worry. I'm not taking the chance of anyone seeing this. If they even suspect someone else is nearby I'll get us out of here."

"I'll do my part." He created a shadow clone. Although he didn't feel good about doing this with only half his chakra it was worth it to know he'd have his own eyes on the forest. The clone wouldn't waste any time locating each of Naruto's and figuring out how he had failed to notice them. He was surprised when Naruto reacted with enthusiasm at the sight of his clone. It wasn't until the clone darted off that he understood why.

Naruto let out a little sound of disappointment, his shoulders slumping as he watched the clone disappear into the canopy. "You meant you'd do your part to keep watch," he sighed. "I should have known."

"You thought I created it for sex?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. It was difficult enough participating in it himself without having a second perspective. He would just as soon never know what he looked and sounded like during sex. "I wouldn't even consider it."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. It's probably just as well. It takes some practice to keep clones from poofing out and a tree is definitely not the best place for your first try. Still..." He sent a mischievous look from the spot where the clone had vanished back to Sasuke. "Don't be surprised if one of my clones puts the moves on yours. That's as close as they're going to get to the real thing."

"They had better not," Sasuke muttered. That would be a complete waste of his chakra and, besides, he didn't want to leave here with the memory of two leafy encounters. One was enough for him. He didn't appreciate the amusement Naruto clearly got out of the idea. "If they bother him you may find yourself short a few bunshin."

"Maybe." Naruto laughed easily. "That's between them now." He eased close and flattened his hands against Sasuke's chest. "You know, I'm glad you don't wear shirts like this anymore. It's so loose you give flashes of skin every time you move, and that wide collar is an open invitation."

"You're the one who asked for it." Sasuke let himself be pushed back against the tree, noting that Naruto's touch wasn't nearly as playful as his tone. The hands moved around him, palms pressing up beneath the back of his shirt. He had to admit that he felt very under-dressed compared to Naruto with his heavy pants and baggy jacket. He slid an arm over Naruto's shoulder to cup the back of his neck. That was the only bit of skin he had access to at the moment. "Are you going to undress?"

"No," Naruto said smugly, his eyes glittering with amusement as he leaned in for a kiss. He pressed a knee between Sasuke's and rubbed up against him. He didn't seem to be in any hurry.

Sasuke took that to mean he really wasn't planning to have sex out here. He was annoyed to find himself disappointed rather than relieved. He blamed that for his sudden urge to take over the kiss. The tree was hard against his back and the way Naruto was rubbing their hips together made those blasted shorts very uncomfortable. At least the kiss was satisfying. Naruto responded enthusiastically at first, then he suddenly pulled away. He couldn't stop himself from scowling in frustration.

"Don't be mad," Naruto pleaded, giving him a sweeping nuzzle along the base of his jaw. He rubbed a hand over Sasuke's crotch, massaging him through his shorts, and catching his mouth in a probing kiss when he grimaced. He kept it up until Sasuke was pulling painfully on his hair. Then he reached up to catch his arms. "I want you to hold onto the kunai," he explained heatedly. "I promise I'll make it worth it."

So that was what they were for. Sasuke grudgingly complied. The moment he curled his hands around the hilts he knew he wasn't going to like this. He might as well have been bound. He couldn't believe Naruto had the gall to ask this of him after insisting that bottoming didn't make one submissive. Naruto must have read reproach in his eyes because his kiss was sweet and apologetic.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Naruto insisted. "It's just so you'll have something other than chakra to hold you up when I do this." He ducked down to catch him behind the knees, bringing his legs up so he was pressed snugly between them. "Wrap your legs around me."

"I dislike this immensely," Sasuke informed him. It came out more flustered and embarrassed than scathing, so he wasn't surprised when Naruto flashed him a knowing smile before kissing the life out of him. He crossed his ankles behind Naruto's back, using a little chakra to secure them in place. Naruto's hands slid inside the loose legs of his shorts to press tightly against his ass and he was suddenly sure that was what Naruto liked so much about them. Fingers pushed into him and he drew in a sharp breath, turning his head away so he could clench his teeth. Between the position and Naruto's grinding hips his erection was already being tightly confined without him making it worse.

Naruto buried his face in the open collar of his shirt, his breath hot and humid as he rocked hard against him. "Just relax," he panted.

"You can't be serious," Sasuke bit out. He was gripping the kunai so tightly he was bound to have grooves in his hands. If Naruto made him cum in his pants he swore he would never give him this henge again no matter how much be begged. He held his breath, shuddering as Naruto's fingers stroked him in just the right spot. He wasn't aware of flexing his legs so they were grinding even harder against each other. He felt both humiliatingly close and horribly far from where he wanted to be. Naruto was kissing his neck, and he groaned when teeth scraped over his collarbone. "Naruto!"

"I can't help it," Naruto said plaintively. "I told you this shirt is an open invitation. I promise I won't mark you, just let me taste you a little." He tilted his head, licking and nipping at the base of his neck. He slowly made his way up to Sasuke's ear and nuzzled his hair. "I could do this for hours, Sasuke."

"Then you'd be doing it without me," he hissed furiously. His clothing felt sticky with sweat and he was suddenly convinced the crotch of his shorts were too tight for him to come even if he wanted to. Naruto tried to kiss him, and he buried his face against his left arm. He didn't even want to imagine how pained and flushed he looked right now.

"Don't you like it just a little?" Naruto asked coaxingly.

"Shut up." He refused to be pandered to when Naruto was grinding hard enough to feel just how aroused he was. This would have been so much easier if he didn't know there were bunshin out there, likely watching the entire thing. Naruto removed one of his hands so the crotch of the shorts weren't pulled quite so tightly against his straining erection. It wasn't much of a relief, though. The hand slid under his shirt to rub and then pluck one of his nipples, as if he really needed more stimulation.

"I want to kiss you," Naruto murmured against his cheek. "What do you want, Sasuke? I'll do anything."

Naruto knew damned well what he wanted. Sasuke turned his head just enough to glare at him through the hair sticking messily to his face. "What do you think I want?"

"Satisfaction," Naruto breathed smugly as he quickly caught his mouth in a heated kiss. He dropped his hand to tug at Sasuke's shorts, undoing the clasp and freeing his erection. He undid his own pants and then pressed them together.

Sasuke closed his eyes, letting Naruto's mouth muffle any sounds he made. Naruto wasn't stroking them nearly as quickly as he would have liked, but he was too relieved to complain. His erection felt very smooth compared to his lightly calloused hand, a contrast he was barely lucid enough to notice but which he appreciated all the same. Naruto shuddered, moaning his name against his lips. Then his grip tightened and he was stroking every bit as roughly as Sasuke would have had it been him.

It was quite a while before he realized Naruto's weight and his locked hold on the kunai were the only things holding him affixed to the tree. He carefully got his legs down and steady enough to hold his weight. Trusting his chakra enough to keep his back to the tree when he let go of the kunai was considerably harder. He couldn't focus at all. Naruto was happily dazed, leaning heavily against him, which was some consolation. That lasted until he released the henge and realized they had come on their clothes. Then he was tempted to shove him off the tree while he was too limp and content to catch himself. Instead he wrapped a resigned arm around Naruto's back and eyed the creases in his left palm. He could see each line from the narrow cloth wrapped around the kunai's hilt sketched neatly on his skin. Naruto spotted it and licked his palm before he could pull away. He wiped the saliva off on his shoulder with a grimace. Naruto gave him a pouting frown.

"Don't be like that, Sasuke. It was fun, right?"

Sasuke levered him back so he would see the mess they had made. "It's a good thing you bought me new clothing. That's all I have to say."

Naruto laughed and pulled him into a hug. "It'll wash right off. I'll clean it myself, don't worry. Let's get back to the apartment. I know you like to shower right after."

"What about your kunai?"

"I'll leave them here to mark the spot," Naruto said cheekily.

Sasuke sent a quick look around. "Did you lose any clones?"

"Nope. I look forward to finding out what they got up to. How about yours?"

"It's still out there."

Naruto smirked. "Let's leave them here. How much trouble could they get into?"

Sasuke snorted at that. "Mine wouldn't get into any. I'm not so sure about yours."

.-.  
TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Although their clones did not get into trouble, they did take their sweet time before dispelling. Sasuke was relieved to learn that none of Naruto's clones had bothered his own. Instead, they had made a game of hiding from him. He now had a much better understanding of Naruto's tactics, and an appreciation for his creativity. Without the sharingan his clone had only been able to locate half of Naruto's. He employed the standard mix of transformation, chakra dampening, and camouflage, but he did so in ways Sasuke wouldn't have expected. For someone who claimed to prefer up-front fights, he certainly had a lot of tricks. Sasuke had to wonder who Naruto was used to hiding from. By the time his clone ran out of chakra he was convinced he had a lot to learn about secreting oneself in a forest, and that Naruto was a much better teacher than he had given himself credit for. The fact that Naruto viewed it as a game, and enjoyed it, meant he was enthusiastic and playful rather than condescending, which made it much easier to learn from him.

The next morning found Sasuke once again at the lake, this time accompanied by a bunshin. Naruto did have a routine, Sasuke realized, it was just different from what he had expected. Mornings were spent with his father, as much to ensure he didn't sleep in as because that was the quietest part of the day for the Hokage. Unless there were specific assignments for him, the rest of the day was his own. Naruto preferred training after lunch and into the evening so he could sleep it off afterward.

"My friends are more likely to be available then, too," Naruto's clone explained. "Sakura is the only one I can count on to be around first thing in the morning since she doesn't take many missions. Sometimes I can meet up with Lee at the crack of dawn, but only if he didn't have a mission the night before. That's the trade-off of having Tenten live with him. She makes him rest whether he likes it or not. He's obsessed with training, so he wears himself into the ground a lot more than I do. I'm only bad when I start out too hard and lose track of the time. Usually I get bored before that happens."

"What sort of training do you usually do?" asked Sasuke. He was crouched at the edge of the water, using chakra to scoop out the splinters of wood collecting along the bank. The rest had sunk to the bottom and would rot away on its own.

Naruto held out a bag for Sasuke to shake his hands off into. "It just depends. When someone harps on me for wasting chakra I try to work on that. Every once in a while my dad will ask how many bunshin I'm using to make the rasengan and I'll practice that for a while. He can do it by himself. But he had years to get used to doing it. I picked it up a lot faster even if I do have to use bunshin to help me stabilize it. The only time I can do it by myself is when I'm tapping into Kyuubi's chakra." He followed Sasuke a few feet along the bank and held the bag out again. "You'd think it would be even harder to control with that much chakra, but for some reason it isn't. That's typical with me," and he gave an embarrassed smile. "The more chakra I use the easier it is."

"It's just the opposite for me," Sasuke admitted. "My attempts to create chakra weapons haven't gone anywhere. The less chakra I use, the easier it is to keep it stable, but the moment I try to transform the chakra it blows up in my face. That's just with the sort of chakra skewers my instructor used. I can't imagine trying to rotate the chakra." He would probably take his fingers off if he even attempted such a thing.

"He was teaching you that?" Naruto frowned at him, looking surprised and disturbed. "Shinobi don't learn that until they're trying to make jounin here. Transforming chakra is dangerous. The only reason I started doing it early is because my dad wanted me to take the rasengan further than he had. Even then he had Jiraiya supervising me so I didn't hurt myself. If yours is blowing up on you, you shouldn't be doing it. Why did he even want you adding fire to chakra skewers? Starting from scratch is a total waste of time when you can already do advanced fire jutsus. He should have been teaching you even more advanced katon instead."

"He didn't want me adding fire, he wanted me using wind and earth like he did. That was a waste of time," Sasuke muttered. "I have better luck making a water clone than I do a sand one. Wind I can't do anything with at all. The only thing I picked up from that training was the way he manipulated his chakra to form the skewers in the first place. I've been trying to add lightning to those, but so far it isn't working the way it does with real weapons." Naruto was giving him a blank stare, as if he weren't even listening. Sasuke had to prod him to open the bag he was holding. "If you had a mind to teach me some of your wind techniques, you can forget it."

"I don't use wind techniques," Naruto informed him, as if the term were offensive somehow. "My rasengan-shuriken is more rasengan than wind, so I don't count that as a wind technique. It's just a little wind added to an already kick-ass jutsu. I don't see why anyone would want to add wind to chakra skewers when you can just use real weapons instead." He dropped the bag so he could fold his arms over his chest. "I think you're right. Your instructor really was wasting your time if he was trying to teach you that. As skilled as you are with real weapons you could go a lot further adding fire to them than you would trying to create your own. Even if you were good with wind, you could do a lot more damage adding it to your chakra wire and senbon, and then you wouldn't have to waste your chakra manifesting weapons. I know that for a fact," he insisted, when Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "I've worked with two people who use wind and the closest either of them gets to using 'wind techniques' is Temari. She's Gaara's sister, and she can take down an entire forest if she sets her mind to it. But it's no more destructive than a fire jutsu when you get right down to it. I have it on good authority that the real benefit of wind is being able to add it to weapons. If your instructor told you otherwise he was lying through his teeth."

He very well might have been. That didn't stop Sasuke from wanting to replicate what he had seen him do. If it had no practical use as it was, he could improve upon it until it did. "You're my instructor now," he pointed out. "What would you suggest I work on?" He wasn't surprised that Naruto had no immediate answer to that. By his own admission Naruto hadn't experimented much. His bias against 'wind techniques' might easily stem from the fact that he hadn't learned any himself. "What my Sand instructor did might not have been as useful as he claimed, but it is convenient to be able to form weapons when none are available. It has other applications as well. Take this for example." He dipped his chakra coated hands into the bag so the shavings covered them. Then he formed the chakra skewers, leaving them to draw in the bits of wood. "If I added fire to these they would burn longer and hotter than simply coating metal weapons. With sand I could use lightening to fuse it into glass. I may not have anything concrete to show from experimenting with this, but I can certainly use it to my advantage in a pinch."

"You think of the weirdest things," Naruto said with a laugh. "If that's what comes from not having trees to climb it's a wonder we don't have more competition from Sand. Gaara is the only one I know who uses his chakra that way."

"What do you mean?"

"That," Naruto said, as Sasuke dumped the bits of wood back into the bag. "Switch with me." He gave him the bag and started grabbing up the bits of wood lying on the bank. His chakra clung to the grass and ground at first, but he caught the hang of it before long. "This is what you meant by 'catching sand', isn't it? I bet it made camouflaging yourself in the desert a lot easier. I'll have to try it on the leaves the next time I'm concealing myself in the forest. Then you'll really have trouble spotting me without the sharingan."

As if Naruto wasn't already good at concealing himself. Sasuke didn't like giving him ideas without receiving any in return. "You're supposed to be giving me advice," he reminded him. He didn't care for the knowing grin Naruto shot him.

"Patience, Sasuke. You'll be getting more advice than you can stomach before long. I have things in mind for you, don't worry. You like a challenge and I like you when you're challenged." His expression was sly and very amused. "Even if I hadn't been forbidden from using rasengan, I'm still just a clone. There's only so much I can do with you right now." His tone made it obvious that he wasn't just referring to training. "Just let me brainstorm while we clean this stuff up. These splinters are nearly as good as sawdust. You're going to love what I have in mind for them."

Sasuke had assumed they would either burn them or use them to fertilize whatever grass they had to replant to make up for the burned patches along the shore. He decided not to ruin whatever surprise had Naruto's clone looking so excited. He followed him along the bank, scooping up the bits Naruto missed. "How are we going to rebuild the dock?" he asked. It would probably be easier to do that before trying to raise the water level. "I've never built anything."

"Neither have I," Naruto admitted cheerfully. "It will probably be better to just hire someone experienced to rebuild it for us. Safer and quicker, too. I've never touched a hammer and I don't know the first thing about what size boards to get or how to make sure it's sturdy enough to not fall apart the first time someone steps on it. This is going to be the most expensive prank I've pulled in years."

Sasuke winced at that. "Are there any missions we could take within the village to offset the cost of this? I'd rather it not come out of your savings."

Naruto shot him a glance and then snorted, quickly dissolving into laughter. "Are you-" It took a moment before he could control himself enough to speak. Sasuke's annoyed expression simply seemed to spur him on. "That's rich," Naruto sputtered. "You taking D-rank missions for the first time in your life because you burned up a lake. And after you wouldn't even 'waste' yourself on C-rank missions for Sand. I can just see you chasing down cats and weeding gardens. Like I'd really do that to you."

"Iruka said there were all sorts of average-wage C-rank missions that can be performed within the village," Sasuke said coolly. Such missions might have been a waste in the past, but right now they were the best he could manage. He would rather do menial tasks than have Naruto cover the bill for what was, after all, his fault. "There must be something I can do here."

Once Naruto realized he was serious, he faltered and scowled. "I'm not having you do genin missions just to make some money. You'd be humiliated. Trust me. Even the C-rank missions would be demeaning. I'd sooner hire you out to Ibiki. At least then you'd be putting your talents to good use. You could probably get B-rank pay just milking snakes for him. Between T&I and the med corps, antivenom is always in short supply."

Given Konoha's bias against snakes that wasn't surprising. "Let's speak to him when we finish up here."

"I was being sarcastic," Naruto blurted. "You thought I was really suggesting you spend more time with snakes than you already do? Just to make money? I'm not poor, Sasuke. I have more than enough saved up to cover this mess and keep us until we can leave the village on real missions. Honest."

"I don't want to rely on you for everything. That's more demeaning than D-rank missions would be. Besides, antivenom saves lives. If your medics have a shortage that means your shinobi are suffering needlessly. As a future Hokage, surely you'd like to remedy that."

"Now you're the one who sounds like my dad," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes. "For someone who didn't grow up here, you sure know how to play the 'for the sake of the village' card. It's not working this time, though, so you can just forget it. It's too soon to expect our medics to trust you, and I sure as hell don't trust Ibiki with you. One hint that you're available to do missions for him and he'd have you on assassinations. You're done with that sort of work."

That casual decree caught Sasuke up short. He stared blankly at Naruto's back, watching him crouch down to scoop more scraps of wood into the bag. What the hell kind of 'work' did Naruto expect him to be doing if assassinations were out of the question? And exactly when had Naruto decided he would no longer be doing the one thing he had been trained to do best? He was torn between protesting and demanding an explanation, knowing very well that he would do neither. Protesting would be a waste of time, and he suspected he wouldn't want to hear Naruto's explanation. He turned away, unwilling to look at him for another moment. And so he caught a glimpse of the shuriken a split second before they embedded themselves in the clone's back.

He leapt back, letting himself be driven out over the water. Instinct overrode his surprise, the sharingan whirling to life so he pinpointed his attacker despite the way he had masked his chakra in order to sneak up on them. The man was wearing a mask similar enough to an Anbu's that Sasuke might have hesitated had Naruto's clone not been struck by the first attack. Konoha shinobi or not, this was an enemy with whom he had no reason to hold back. He skirted the edge of the lake, creating four water clones that remained submerged as he lured his attacker down from the crest of the hill. He recognized the handsigns the man was using, an earth trap that simply didn't compare to the ones he had seen used by Sand and Rock. Clearly his enemy expected him to have a proficiency with fire and a weakness with water, which would force him onto the bank in order to escape or counterattack. Sasuke played into that expectation.

His feet skidded in the shallow water, breaking through the surface in a heavy splash before leaping clear and directly toward the trap that had been lain for him. The masked man concentrated his chakra on the ground before flashing through another series of handsigns that Sasuke didn't recognize. Not that it mattered. It was a water clone that ended up caught and skewered. The man reacted fast, impressively so, but he was still not trying hard enough in Sasuke's opinion. Had he wanted him dead this was not the way to go about it. As the other three clones broke from the water and converged on him, the man used shuriken rather than ninjutsu to attack them. They evaded and were nearly on him before he finally brought his hands together for another jutsu. Sasuke emerged from the water and darted toward them. He had attached chakra wire to two of the man's own shuriken and used them to take out the clones himself. The water doused him, catching him off guard long enough for the chakra wire to wrap around him. Soaking wet the lightning chakra brought him to his knees, his entire body twitching as his muscles spasmed from the currents.

Sasuke knew exactly how debilitating that attack was because he had been on the receiving end of a similar one during his first introduction to lightning. He still didn't hesitate to get behind the man while he was incapacitated. Like an Anbu, the man had a long sword strapped to his back. Sasuke drew it and stabbed downward behind his left clavicle, stopping with the tip just shy of piercing his heart. He caught the man's hair and yanked his head back so he could catch his dark eyes behind the mask. "Give me a reason not to kill you."

Still trembling, the man spoke through a gurgle of liquid in his lungs. "It would change nothing. Leave here or die..."

As if the man had made a serious effort to kill him. Had that been his intention he might have succeeded had his first attack been on him rather than Naruto's clone. Sasuke didn't believe anyone who could mask his chakra so well could be such a clumsy assassin. This struck him more as a warning, one that could only be delivered with Naruto out of the way. The man closed his eyes and lurched upwards, trying to force himself deeper onto the blade. Sasuke moved along with him, his curiosity peaked despite his better judgment. That he had enemies here was no surprise to him. That one of them would sooner die than reveal the others was. Was it the Hokage they were afraid of? Or Naruto? They would do better to fear him. It would be a relief to have opponents he needn't fear killing.

The soft wisp of metal being drawn from a sheath caught his ear and he looked back to see another masked man bearing down on him from the crest of the hill. He withdrew the blade just in time to meet this new attacker. It took him less than a minute to realize that whatever the first man was, this new one was definitely Anbu. He was also quite intent on killing him with his sword alone, as revenge for his fallen comrade. Between that self-imposed limitation and the sharingan, Sasuke was able to hold his own well enough to at least attempt reasoning with him.

"You're making a mistake. He attacked me. If he really is Anbu, then he's a traitor."

"Is that what you plan to tell the Hokage? Fool! Redbird is one of the most loyal shinobi we have. You should never have been allowed into this village. I'll correct that mistake myself!"

Chakra billowed around the man and Sasuke bit back a curse when the blade nearly sliced through his own. It was just his luck the man used wind chakra. If the man began using ninjutsu he would have no choice but to flee. He could just imagine what would be reported to the Hokage then. He had been neatly set up. Running would all but prove his guilt, but killing this man sure as hell wouldn't support his innocence. He refused to do either. He was going to stay right here until Naruto came to find out what had happened to his clone. He let himself be driven toward the torn earth marking the trap the first man had left. Coating his blade with lightning chakra, he sliced through the layer of loose dirt. The Anbu's own wind blew the bits of glass into his face, causing minimal damage but giving Sasuke time to make a long cut to disable his right arm. The man immediately switched the blade to his left hand, proving himself ambidextrous. Naturally. He reminded himself that Anbu weren't the elite for nothing.

Sasuke darted back, edging away from the lake. He was halfway up the hill when he realized his mistake in waiting for Naruto. He had expected him to appear on the crest of the hill, but it was the forehead protector he teleported to. He appeared right in front of him, oblivious to the sword aiming for his back. Sasuke shoved him aside, took the hit, and then sliced through the man's left hand. Or he would have sliced through it if the man hadn't let go and lurched back a step. He barely managed to stop his downward swipe before his blade hit the hilt of the sword currently impaling him. The Anbu remained frozen, staring at him with wide eyes. Sasuke let the full measure of his contempt show on his face. "I told you it was a mistake."

"Sasuke...?"

He turned to Naruto, only to have his attention drawn past him to where another shinobi was crouched over the prone man who had attacked him. The shinobi stood, looked at them, and shook his head.

"He killed Redbird," the Anbu whispered, his tone strangely emotionless.

Sasuke scowled at him. He couldn't have. The injury he had given him couldn't have caused him to bleed out that quickly. Unless... A quick look from the blood soaking his pants to the lightly bleeding cut on the Anbu's arm told him all he needed to know. The man he had killed was definitely not Anbu. If he had been, he would have known the blade was poisoned. Foolish that, using an enemy's weapon without first assuring he was immune to whatever poison coated it. Sasuke had learned that lesson years ago. It figured a few days in Konoha would be enough for him to forget the basics.

He dropped the borrowed sword and smoothly withdrew the blade from his stomach. He was deaf to Naruto, who was now between him and the Anbu and talking furiously. He was rather surprised that Naruto hadn't lost control and started tapping his demon's chakra. Or maybe he was and Sasuke just wasn't paying enough attention to feel it. He pressed his hand to his wound and then dragged two bloody fingers along his neck. A burst of chakra summoned Terra, who wasted no time twining around him and sinking his fangs into his vein. It burned, but at least he wouldn't be in danger of bleeding out like that foolish impostor lying dead in the grass.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, and immediately had his full attention. "If that man is this Redbird he's talking about, then I'm Sakura. Take his mask off and see for yourself."

"You do it," Naruto growled at the Anbu. He grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and then the surroundings changed into a distant blur.

Sasuke assumed they were taken to a medical ward. There were multiple people and he was coaxed into lying on his uninjured side, Naruto's voice alternating between soothing, panicking, and furious. At one point a woman's voice broke through the din with a strident, "Get that out of my operating room!" And he felt something tiny slither its way deep into his hair. His mouth must have twitched because he clearly heard Naruto say something in a laughing voice before the drone took over again, heavier, until it also faded away.

He later recalled surfacing a few times as his body fought off whatever drugs or jutsu they were using to keep him under. There was a lot of angry and frustrated arguing, but Naruto's voice was always in the middle of it so he didn't struggle very hard to regain consciousness. When he did wake up, it was to find himself in a small white room that reeked of antiseptic, with an Anbu standing guard just inside the closed door. For a moment he wondered if the attempted trap had worked after all and he was now a prisoner. Then he recognized the mask as Kakashi's and decided against it.

"How long was I out?" he asked. His voice was dry and scratchy but functional.

"Longer than you should have been," Kakashi said, not moving from his place by the door. "Your body doesn't distinguish between drugs meant to help and drugs meant to kill. Whoever trained you to that did you a disservice."

"I was trained to get away uninjured."

"Not well enough, apparently."

"Apparently," Sasuke repeated. He should have known Naruto would show up like that. If he had kept more distance between him and his opponent this never would have happened.

"Well?" Kakashi prompted. "Aren't you going to ask about the man who attacked you?"

Sasuke slipped a hand beneath the blanket to test the bandage wrapped around his waist. The blade had likely cut into his intestines. Messy work even for a skilled medic. He glanced over to find Kakashi waiting expectantly. "Which one?" he scoffed. He was more interested in hearing about the Anbu. The dead man hadn't left a mark on him.

"The dead one, of course. How did you know he wasn't Anbu? Until the mask came off even his partner was fooled."

"He wasn't good enough to be Anbu and he had no immunity to the poison coating the sword he carried. What about the real Redbird?"

"Away on a mission. It was a report of him being sighted back in the village early that had his partner seeking him out. We haven't determined how he gained access to the uniform and weapons, but the mask itself was a fake. Did he say anything to you?"

Sasuke gave him a cool stare. "Leave or die. That's all I got from him before your Anbu showed up. Next time I won't stick around to explain myself. That sort of trap is too easily set."

"There won't be a next time. I'll let Naruto know you're awake."

Sasuke watched him leave the room, so he had a good view of the masked guard stationed across the hall. It was the very Anbu who had put him in this bed. He let out a surprised breath and was shaking with silent laughter by the time the door closed. For a moment there he had thought Kakashi was trying to reassure him. He should have known better. His movements brought a tight ache from his midsection and a tickling rustle from his hair. He raised an eyebrow when Terra slithered free and rose to full size on his chest.

"You have a strange sense of humor, laughing at the people who nearly killed you."

"Why are you still here?" asked Sasuke.

"I was curious," Terra admitted. "It isn't often you invite me to bite you. I gave you a full dose, you know. You could have died instantly."

"Not likely. Their poison was too potent for that. Did you recognize it?"

"I didn't get a good enough taste..."

Sasuke let out a painful laugh. "I've lost too much blood to sacrifice more for the sake of your curiosity. Maybe next time."

"Which there will be," Terra hissed, proving he had heard Kakashi and dismissed his claim as quickly as Sasuke had. "Next time come to me. You'd be safer in Manda's territory than in Konoha."

"Manda has his own alliance," Sasuke pointed out. "To Sound."

"You're preferable to Orochimaru. Even Manda would see that."

"I appreciate the invitation," Sasuke drawled, "but you're summon enough for me."

"I suppose that's true. You are surprisingly low-maintenance for an Uchiha." Terra flicked his tongue out, then he shrunk and darted back into his hair just as the doorknob turned.

Kakashi poked his head into the room. "Brace yourself." Then he stepped back and Naruto stormed in, shutting the door behind him.

"You took ten years off my life!" Naruto growled, stalking to the bed. "Don't you ever take a blade for me again!"

"You're welcome," Sasuke said blandly. If anything, Naruto's face grew redder.

"I'm serious! You're the worst patient there ever was. Do you know I ended up dragging those cuffs back out so they could use a jutsu on you to keep you under? You even threw up the antibiotic! They had to inject you with it. You jerked so much the medic kept missing the vein, so if your left elbow hurts that's why."

Now that he mentioned it, the inside of his left elbow was rather sore. Sasuke's lips twitched. "Better not to take antibiotics than to wind up reliant on them, anyway."

"You can explain that to Baachan. I'll watch."

Sasuke snorted at that. "How long was I out?"

"Longer than you-"

"Specifically," Sasuke snapped.

Naruto scowled back at him. "Specifically, one day of attempted surgery. Another day trying to fix everything you tore up while you were fighting the surgery. Two days bound to a bed with your chakra sealed to keep you immobile and unconscious. And today is half gone, so that makes five days. Specifically."

Sasuke immediately reached into his hair and pulled out a squirming Terra.

Naruto gasped, and then leaned forward to eyeball the little snake. "He's still here? I thought for sure Baachan had run him off."

"He said he was curious about the poison."

"Yeah?" Naruto snorted. "Baachan said she was curious about his venom. But she's more liable to dissect him than to ask."

Clearly unconcerned by that threat, the snake twisted free of Sasuke's grasp and rose up on his chest. Sasuke stared him down. "You haven't eaten in five days?" His tone was thick with skepticism and suspicion. Terra quickly broke eye contact in favor of flicking his tongue at Naruto, who grimaced right on cue. "Go home," Sasuke sighed. "I can't feed you right now."

"I'll feed him." Naruto shifted awkwardly when Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not offering to cut up snakes for him, but I can get some meat. Chicken, fish, beef, whatever he wants."

"Toad?" Terra inquired.

Red in the face, Naruto leaned down to glare at him. "My toads eat insects bigger than you. Just because I'm offering to do you a favor for Sasuke's sake doesn't mean I'm going to take any lip from you."

Sasuke slapped a palm against Naruto's forehead, pushing his face back out of biting range. "Terra is leaving," he said, eyeing the summon. This time when he caught the snake's gaze he held it. "Go home and eat, Terra."

"Remember my invitation," Terra hissed quietly. "The next time Konoha tries to kill you, take it."

"Konoha wasn't responsible for this!" Naruto blurted. His mouth snapped shut when the snake shot him a cold look before vanishing. His eyes flashed back to Sasuke, and then his mouth opened back up with a vengeance. "This wasn't us! It was a huge misunderstanding. I swear-"

"I know," Sasuke interrupted him. "I realized that immediately. Unfortunately your Anbu would gladly have killed me rather than take my word for anything. Next time-"

"There won't be a next time!"

Sasuke closed his eyes with a long sigh. "Kakashi said the same thing. I had hoped that you might be more...honest about it. I don't need to be privy to your investigation to know that man was not acting on his own. Of course there will be a next time." He looked over and found Naruto's expression every bit as conflicted as he had expected it to be. "If you can't discuss it with me, I would rather you say nothing than have you lie to me."

"It's not a lie." He bristled under the disappointed stare Sasuke gave him. "I swear it. We might not know who the guy was working with yet, but we've seen through the trap. Our Anbu aren't stupid enough to fall for that again. It was a misunderstanding and a mistake and we'll learn from it. Me, especially. If I had come to you the second my bunshin was expelled this never would have happened."

"Either that man wasn't trying to kill me, or he wasn't capable of it. Despite that, had you shown up right in front of me from the start, he might have proven deadly. It's just as well that you hesitated." He looked at him curiously. "Why did you?"

"Oh," Naruto winced, dropping his eyes. "I thought, at first, that, well, maybe you had taken my bunshin out - because of what I said."

"When you casually informed me that I would no longer be doing the only sort of work I'm trained to do?" Sasuke snorted at the uneasy look Naruto shot him. "That assumption of yours played quite nicely into the trap that was set for me."

"I know," Naruto bit out. "I also know that I shouldn't have said that without talking to you about it first. And I realize now that teleporting directly to your forehead protector is a fatality waiting to happen. Like I said, it was a mistake and I've learned from it. There isn't going to be a next time, Sasuke. I'll make sure of that."

"How?" Naruto's stubborn stony silence to that reasonable question brought a faint smile to his face. Clearly Naruto hadn't quite figured that out yet. "Are you always so optimistic?"

"Confident," Naruto said quickly. "It's confidence, not optimism. The confidence leads to the optimism and that's how I know I'm right. Because I'm confident I can make sure I'm right I have every reason to be optimistic. You see?"

"No," Sasuke said flatly. No one but Naruto could see the logic in that mess.

"Yes, you do," Naruto scowled. "You're just being difficult. I'll prove it to you. Then you'll believe me. In the meantime..." He stalked forward and bent over to press his face against Sasuke's neck. "I'd kiss that stupid snake of yours if he wasn't such a smartass...and a snake. Baachan said his venom probably saved your life..."

Sasuke curved his arm so he could thread his fingers in Naruto's hair. He fully intended to wrench his head back if he tried marking him up while he was, he assumed, going to be stuck in this hospital room for a while. "Since I'm the one who summoned him, I'm the one who used his venom to save my life." He raised an eyebrow when Naruto lifted his head of his own accord.

"So I should kiss you instead?" Naruto asked, eager and hopeful.

"No," Sasuke said sharply. "Not here." He wasn't the least bit swayed by Naruto's drooping shoulders and woebegone expression. "I am not doing anything intimate with you in a hospital room."

"It was just going to be a little kiss," Naruto grumbled.

As if he believed that. "In that case," he tapped his forehead with his thumb, "feel free to kiss my head like you would have with Terra. I, at least, won't be tempted to bite you for it." Naruto's beaming smile startled him, and he blinked when a warm kiss was quickly pressed to his head. He hadn't expected the idiot to actually do it. He didn't know what to say when Naruto leaned back and turned the full measure of his smile on him.

"You're going to be just fine, Sasuke. They want to keep you for one more night, but you'll get the best treatment. I promise. Sakura-chan is going to make sure you get some real food, just light stuff but none of that nasty hospital crap. And she won't be cooking it herself, so don't worry about that, either. I have something to take care of right now. I'll be back to check on you later. First thing tomorrow, you'll be out of here."

Sasuke frowned at how easily Naruto turned to leave him. As critical as Naruto had made his condition sound, he had expected him to hover at least a little. "The Anbu I fought with is standing guard outside that door," he called out.

"He volunteered," Naruto said, flashing a cheerful smile over his shoulder at him. "I'll see you in a few hours, Sasuke."

He caught another glimpse of the Anbu stationed across the hall as Naruto left the room. Then he had nothing to look at but the closed door. He swiftly found himself scowling at it. As far as he was concerned, he was once again in a cell. The only difference was that Naruto had left him in it this time. That was the thanks he got for having likely saved Naruto's life? He folded his arms over his chest and directed his scowl at the ceiling. He shouldn't have sent Terra away. A little more blood loss would probably have been worth the company.

By the time Naruto returned, Sasuke was well fed on what he had to admit was the best broth-based soup he had ever eaten and was sitting at a slight incline with Sakura perched on a chair next to his bed. Sasuke clearly saw Naruto wince and hesitate before pasting a smile on his face. Sakura flashed him a quick smile over her shoulder, but didn't let his entrance phase her.

"I can repair them myself, and quite neatly too, but I'm not nearly as quick as those who've been doing it for years."

"Docks?" Naruto asked her, in a playful voice. "You should have told me sooner!"

"Chakra paths," she corrected him, as if it were actually necessary. "I was telling Sasuke-kun about his surgery. Unlike some people he's actually interested in the details."

Naruto's expression sobered and he shot them both a quelling look that was surprisingly effective - on Sakura, at least. "He had a hole through his gut. That's a detailed enough description."

"For you," Sasuke muttered. He, on the other hand, preferred knowing exactly what had been done to him. Although Sakura hadn't been on hand, she had talked to the medics who had worked on him, and she had seen his sort of injury before. She had been quick to inform him that he should have left the blade right where it was until the medics could tend to it. Removing it might have limited the amount of additional poison he absorbed, but it had also left room for everything cut inside to leak freely. He probably should have considered that instead of focusing exclusively on the poison. Since he had just seen proof of how quickly that poison could kill a man, he didn't berate himself too much for not considering the location of the injury and the complications he would be causing to it. He had never been stabbed clean through the waist before, but he had definitely been poisoned enough times to take a threat like that seriously. Despite Sakura's reasonable argument, his first instinct was always going to be to let a wound gush freely rather than keep it plugged up with poisoned metal. That instinct was too deeply ingrained for him to be talked out of it.

"I'm surprised they let you stay while they were operating," Sakura said to Naruto. "You're bound to have gotten in the way."

"I did not! I'll have you know I kept my cool right up until they used that spreader thing." He shot a wincing and slightly queasy look at Sasuke. "I had to step outside for that part. I know it was necessary, and it obviously worked, but...yeah, I really didn't need to see that."

"At least you didn't throw up," Sakura said helpfully. "Remember the time you walked in on me while I was using that cadaver to practice my-"

"No!" Naruto yelped. "I don't ever want to remember that so don't you dare remind me!"

Sakura grinned at Sasuke. "He spewed all over the corpse's-"

"That's it," Naruto announced loudly, "your visiting time is up. Say goodnight to Sasuke. We have a lot to do tomorrow and he'll need his rest."

There was definitely something malicious in the girl's smirk when she stood and bid him goodnight. Naruto's eagerness to get rid of her was a little overdone and frantic. Sasuke supposed he would have to hear the rest of that story now, if only to know why Naruto didn't want him hearing it. He watched them leave the room, not surprised that their voices were cut off the moment the door closed. Aside from the food delivery and Sakura's visit, he had been left in complete silence. That gave him more time than he actually needed to think about what had happened. He watched impatiently as Naruto finally entered the room and made his way to the chair.

"Do I have to stay here for the night?" To his own ears he sounded a little testy. Restless was what he actually felt.

"I was just asking Sakura that," Naruto admitted.

"Then she wasn't just paying me a visit." She had looked him over rather closely.

Naruto smiled at that. "Sakura-chan rarely stops by just for a visit. She was checking up on you, but more than anything she was giving you a chance to complain about me. Did you?"

"No. We didn't discuss you at all."

"That's something, then. I don't want her filling your head with stories about me when I'm not around to defend myself."

By silencing her and running her out of the room? Sasuke scoffed. "You still haven't answered my question."

"That's because I haven't made up my mind yet." He leaned forward over his knees, giving him a serious look. "You tell me, Sasuke. If you stay here tonight, are you actually going to sleep? Or will you be climbing the walls by the time I come to pick you up in the morning?"

"There is no point climbing the walls in a room sealed as completely as this one." The weakest point was the door and that Anbu was still standing right outside of it.

Naruto jumped from his chair with a laugh. "That answers that question. If you've already been scoping the seals with the sharingan then you definitely won't be sleeping easily in here. I'll get a medic to discharge you. It would be quicker to just steal you, but you're supposed to be taking it easy and sneaking out of a secure wing here is asking for trouble. Last time I did that I had to sit through lectures from Baachan, her chief medic, the Anbu captain, and my dad. Even paperwork is better than that."

It took nearly two hours to escape the hospital. Sasuke didn't get to see whatever paperwork Naruto had to fill out. He sat quietly while a medic examined his injury and gave him directions he had no intention of following. Four and a half days of bedrest were more than enough already. He had no trouble making the long walk through the hospital, though Naruto's continued attempts to assist him quickly became annoying. That hovering kept him from protesting when Naruto teleported them to his apartment the moment they were outside. The night air was cool and refreshing, but Naruto's manner would have ruined the walk home. The moment they reached the apartment he made for the door.

"What are you doing?" Naruto demanded.

"I'm going to sit on the roof." He raised an eyebrow when Naruto stopped just shy of grabbing him.

"You can't be jumping around on rooftops! Didn't you hear the medic? No strenuous activity. You might be healed up inside, but you could still hurt something. Any complications and you'll be right back in the hospital. Is that what you want?"

Sasuke turned to lean against the door. Naruto's worry appeared genuine, if a bit excessive. "Are you afraid someone will attack me if I go out in the open?" He refused to be holed up in Naruto's apartment for the foreseeable future.

"Of course not," Naruto grimaced. "No one would attack you right in front of me."

Which meant Naruto would be joining him on the roof. "Then there's nothing to worry about." He led the way, not minding that Naruto was fuming by the time he plopped down beside him. "I know my limits. I'm not going to make my injury any worse."

"Maybe not on purpose. But you haven't seen yourself over the last few days. You've just started to get some color back. Now you're risking that - and for what? Just to be stubborn!"

"I wanted some fresh air," Sasuke admitted. "I don't like being cooped up." Naruto's bedroom was sealed as tightly as that hospital room, and he suspected that was where Naruto had been leading him. He would go there later, but for now he wanted air. "You have a quiet village," he remarked. That distracted Naruto nicely.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed, relaxing a little. "Even when there's trouble, people pull together and recover quickly. Some of the shinobi might seem unusually tense for a while, but the civilians won't even catch a whiff of it."

"Can you talk about your findings? Kakashi told me you hadn't identified the man I killed."

"And you figured he was lying?" Naruto's smile didn't falter a bit. "There's nothing for us to keep a secret from you in this case. You know more than we do because you actually talked to him and saw how he fought. For all we know, he sought you out to get an update on how well your nefarious scheme to infiltrate Konoha has gone, and you only took him out because our Anbu showed up and risked your cover."

"The facts don't support that theory," Sasuke said drolly. There were less far-fetched theories they could put forth to incriminate him. With no other witnesses, Konoha had only his word on what had happened before that Anbu member had arrived. They should at least wonder if he had known the man. Maybe that was why Kakashi had commented on his lack of questions concerning his attacker. He sent a sidelong glance at Naruto, who was gazing at the moonlit rooftops and looking more relaxed now. Sasuke eased onto his back and folded his arms behind his head. When Naruto looked down at him, he asked, "Do they think I knew the man who attacked me?"

Naruto didn't even hesitate. "Not that you recognized him at the time, but that you might have if he hadn't worn the mask. They'll have pictures for you to look at later. He's not one of ours and he's not anyone our intelligence division can find a listing for. They have photos of all the officially recognized shinobi. That means he was Sound, a pregenin, or someone his own village doesn't want tied back to them. You can guess which way we're leaning."

If it was Sound then he would have to question Terra about his sudden invitation. This wasn't the first time his summon had invited him to take shelter in his own territory during an emergency. This was, however, the first time he had mentioned Manda. Sasuke closed his eyes as he considered that theory. If Sound wanted him out of Konoha, they could have aimed to use Konoha's own Anbu to drive him away. If he had been facing multiple Anbu at the lake his chances of escaping would have been slim. He might well have considered using a reverse summon as a last resort. He didn't believe Terra had been compromised, but in his own territory Manda ruled. And Manda was bound to Orochimaru. "Yes," he murmured, "I can see that."

"Do you think Sound wants you dead?" asked Naruto. He must have lain down himself because his voice was much closer.

"Not if they sent that man to do the job. They know too much about my abilities to have expected him to kill me. Unless they were setting Konoha up to kill me. That's a possibility. If that man can't be linked to them, Konoha would have been held responsible for my death. According to your father, that would have been the end of the truce. But that assumes Sound has something to gain by ending it." Without him or Itachi, Sound shouldn't have much need for the Uchiha clan. For now. "I suppose they could be worried about an alliance forming in the future."

"They wouldn't be the only ones worried about that," Naruto said with heavy satisfaction.

Sasuke looked over to find Naruto on his back beside him. "What do you think the odds are of that happening?"

"Good. My dad says pushing your elders would just make them more rigid than ever, so we'll give them plenty of time to get used to the truce. Eventually they'll see the benefits of an alliance. Sure, it might take a few years. Sand is used to having a monopoly on Uchiha, so they won't be eager to give that up. Gaara is on our side, though. Once he's Kazekage any alliance between us and the clan will have Sand's full support. By then the clan should be used to having us as allies, even if it's not official yet."

Sasuke stared at him for so long that Naruto began to fidget. Since Naruto resisted the urge to ask what he was thinking, he decided to share it. "Has it occurred to you that Sand, or the clan itself, might have sent that man?"

Shock and confusion swamped Naruto's face. He even looked offended for a moment. Then anger took over and he shoved himself up to stare down at him. "Why would you think that? Did that man say something to make you think that?"

"All he said to me was that killing him would change nothing, and to leave here or die."

"Then why would you even think that Sand - or your own clan - had something to do with this?"

Sasuke looked away. "It's just something to consider. Sand knows less about my abilities than any other village, mostly thanks to my jounin instructor. And the clan," thanks to his father, "has every reason to believe I would allow myself to be killed in order to get around the Hokage's prohibition against suicide. If they could arrange my death at the hands of Konoha, all the better."

"But...they're your clan - your family!"

"Yes," Sasuke stated. "And as such I'm obligated to do what is in their best interest."

"Forcing us to break the treaty isn't in their best interest. It won't benefit them at all," Naruto growled. "Your death sure as hell won't! The one thing the Uchiha clan has going for them is you. If they don't realize that by now, they're fools!"

"You're biased because you have a personal interest in keeping me alive," Sasuke pointed out. "Not that it matters since I didn't let myself be killed and am unlikely to do so." Even if he had direct orders from the clan to stand down, he wasn't sure he'd be able to. "Besides, it's just one possibility among many. For all I know that man may have been hired by someone in Konoha and that Anbu's arrival was just a coincidence. That would certainly explain how he got a real uniform and based his mask off a shinobi currently away from the village."

"That's one possibility we're going to rule out," Naruto said firmly. "We know who our...subversive elements are. If they had anything to do with this, we'll find the proof and act accordingly. Count on it."

Sasuke grunted rather than agreeing outright. He had noticed that Naruto refused to even consider that Sand might have been involved. Of course he wouldn't seriously believe his own village could have been responsible. He supposed that spoke to Naruto's loyalty. For all the good that did anyone.

"Are you ready to go in?" Naruto asked after a while.

"Not yet."

Naruto sighed, but instead of arguing he scooted closer and dropped back down beside him. "At least the stars are pretty."

"Yes, they are," Sasuke agreed. The company wasn't bad, either.

.-.  
TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Naruto burst in the door looking both worried and annoyed. Not surprising, since Sasuke had blocked him from teleporting directly into the livingroom. His forehead protector was in the bathroom so Naruto could have gone directly to that if it had been an emergency. Sasuke just hadn't wanted him popping in and messing up his scrolls. He had pushed the couch and table back so he had enough room to spread four overlapping scrolls, leaving just enough space for him to sit in the middle.

Meditation was nothing new. He had figured that out years ago. Doing it properly, however, made a huge difference. He would have to thank Iruka. The scrolls the man had given him contained no restricted techniques, no tips or tricks or sensitive information, nothing at all but a general history of shinobi and the fundamentals of the ninjutsu they performed. The history was interesting. He would take his time wading through that to see how the different countries and villages were tied together. The rest was exactly what he had been missing. His understanding of the fundamentals of ninjutsu, namely chakra manipulation, was so fragmented it was pure relief to finally be able to start filling in those gaps. He had been taught bits and pieces, and had stumbled onto quite a bit on his own. Knowing how it all tied together made all the difference. There were many things he would need Iruka or someone else to clarify for him, but he had read enough to start with. And since Naruto was afraid to have him out on his own, there was no better time to begin than right now.

"What are you doing?" asked Naruto.

"I was meditating in order to ground my chakra." He doubted he would be able to focus enough for that now that Naruto was back. Just as well. He had been at this for at least an hour. He should probably see how well the practice carried over to his real body before he wasted more time and chakra by having a bunshin do it.

"But why are you doing it in here?"

A glance found Naruto staring at the couch. He looked upset. Sasuke sent a quick look at the couch himself before he went back to rolling up his scrolls. "I didn't scrape the floor. I'll move everything back. I just needed space."

Naruto rounded at that, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "I don't care about scrapes on the floor! I want to know why you were doing that in here. You could have gone outside. I just asked you not to go to the forest without me. I didn't mean you had to stay inside until I got back. You could have gone to one of the other training grounds, or anywhere besides the forest. That's why I left Gamakichi with you! So you wouldn't be stuck in here until I got back."

"I know that," Sasuke informed him. "I didn't stay because I felt I had to. I stayed because what I'm doing is better done without being interrupted by anyone who happens to be passing by." Like Kakashi, Sakura, or any of the many people inhabiting this village. If he had a choice in the matter he would never train in one of those open training grounds again without Naruto there to handle any 'visitors' who dropped by. If Naruto didn't want him going to the forest without him, that was fine. There were other things he could do in the meantime. If after a few days Naruto was still trying to restrict him, then he would argue about it. He had spent all of yesterday lazing about while one of Naruto's clones fussed over him until Naruto returned to do the fussing himself. His injury felt fine, barely a twinge no matter how hard he pressed on it. In another day or two he would go back to the hospital and let a medic look at it, if that was what it took to prove to Naruto that he was healed enough to be let off this leash.

He rolled up the last scroll and set them all on the shelf where he had placed the others. Naruto rushed past him before he could reach the table and moved it himself. Was he going to lecture him about lifting heavy things? He had better not. The meditation had helped to improve his mood, but not by much. "I had help lifting the couch. Not that I needed it."

"Gamakichi?" asked Naruto. He sighed with relief. "That's good. If you pull a stitch or something I'll never get you back out of the hospital."

"I don't have any stitches," Sasuke muttered. Naruto knew that. Naruto had given his stomach enough feathery light touches in the last day that Sasuke had threatened to knee him in the chin if he didn't stop it. He had only been forced to make good on that threat twice before Naruto had finally left his stomach alone.

"Not on the outside. But we don't know what is still healing on the inside. I'm serious," Naruto said earnestly, as he moved the couch back. "If you make it worse before it's fully healed, Baachan might admit you back in the hospital just because she can. If it really feels fine, then at least let Sakura take a look to make sure. She won't lie and make it sound worse than it is just so you rest longer. She'll tell you straight out if you're good to go or if there are certain things you should avoid doing. She's good about that."

That would be preferable to being poked and prodded by complete strangers. He certainly didn't want to risk being trapped in a hospital room again. And if Sakura was honest in her appraisal then it would get Naruto to settle down. Naruto had slipped out of the bed last night and gone to sleep on the couch. There was no need for that. Sasuke had called him on that this morning and Naruto's lie, that he hadn't wanted to roll over and disturb him, had been painfully transparent. The point of the wards in the bedroom were to protect Naruto while he slept, not him.

"Where is Gamakichi?" Naruto asked suddenly. He put his hands on his hips and scowled. "Did you tell him you were going to stay inside and he just believed you?"

As if he shouldn't have believed him? Well, that was probably fair. He wouldn't have hesitated to lie to Naruto's summon if he had wanted to.

"No," said Sasuke. "I put him in the bathtub."

"You did what?"

Sasuke dispelled himself with a smirk.

The feedback from the clone hit Sasuke a moment before he heard the footsteps rushing down the hall. He wondered what Naruto had thought. That he had somehow trapped his summon in the bathroom so it wouldn't disturb him? If Naruto had thought that, it meant there was a way to do that. He would have to look into that. He didn't glance up when Naruto entered the room. Gamakichi did, though. The toad's right front foot broke the surface of the water for just a moment before he got over his surprise. The room was quiet aside from the splishing of the water. After a minute, Sasuke gave in and looked over. Naruto was standing in the doorway with a weird look on his face. Sasuke frowned back at the toad. Gamakichi had made himself bigger as Sasuke had increased the amount of the water holding him up. He was as big as a watermelon now, balanced on the spray of water and rotating slowly. Sasuke supposed it did look rather strange.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, finally. The laughter was audible in his voice.

Sasuke jerked his head at the toad, who hopped onto the side of the tub. He released the jutsu so the water fell back into the tub. Then he frowned over at Naruto. "Water and wind." That should have been obvious. Naruto still looked amused. It was annoying. "I have never been able to use wind. At all. Now I finally know why." Gamakichi was grinning at Naruto, clearly enjoying how amused Naruto was. Unlike him. Sasuke scowled at the toad. "Kick for me."

"Say please," Gamakichi taunted.

"Please," Sasuke said flatly.

"He's not so bad," Gamakichi told Naruto. "For a snake summoner."

"What?" Naruto yelped. He shot a startled look at Sasuke. "You told him? I warned you not to tell-"

"I didn't have to," Sasuke cut him off.

"No kidding," said Gamakichi. "I smelled snake the second you left. It was all over the bookshelf. I can't believe you tried to hide it." He gave Naruto a pitying look. "What were you planning to say the first time he summoned one around one of us? That you just forgot to mention it? Not like it matters, anyway. I can take on any snake except Manda. I'd let Pops take care of him. So, yeah, no point trying to keep that a secret. Pretty dumb, in fact. Don't embarrass me like that. I nearly went full sized when I smelled snake in here. If I had known he summoned them, I wouldn't have been so startled. You're supposed to tell us stuff like that, not keep it a secret."

"Sorry," Naruto said sheepishly. "I know how Gamabunta feels about Manda, so-"

"I don't summon Manda," said Sasuke.

"Exactly," said Gamakichi. "He doesn't summon Manda. Stop making trouble where there isn't any."

"Sorry," Naruto said again. For a moment he looked properly chastised. It was gone almost immediately, replaced by a wide grin, which he shot at Sasuke. "You're getting along with him. See? I told you everyone likes Gamakichi!"

"I wouldn't go that far," Sasuke muttered. He and the toad stared at each other for a moment, then he sighed. "Kick for me?"

"Oh, right." Gamakichi stretched his hind legs and kicked the water so droplets splashed into the air.

Sasuke performed the hand sign for wind and focused his chakra until the droplets moved. It was a slow and light swirl, but the movement was clearly visible. He kept it up until Naruto had gotten a good look, and then released the jutsu. A glance found Naruto still looking confused. Sasuke frowned up at him. "Wind. Not much, I know, but I can do it. The only reason I couldn't do it before is because my instructor taught me wrong. Intentionally."

"What?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Why would he do that?"

"Because it was something I didn't already know and the clan didn't want him teaching me new things." He glared at the water. "We spent months going over his wind techniques and even with the sharingan I couldn't reproduce a single one. I don't know which of the hand signs he taught me were fake. Maybe they all were and he was able to perform those techniques without using any." The worst part was that he hadn't known it was possible to teach someone the wrong way to perform a technique. It was so obvious now. He had copied the hand signs his teacher had used to make his chakra form skewers and cover the weapons, and when he hadn't been able to reproduce the techniques with the 'proper' hand signs he had kept at it until he could do it without any hand signs. But no matter how hard he tried he hadn't been able to transform even a bit of his chakra into wind. Obviously. "Even outside of those particular techniques, I was never able to use wind at all. That's because wind is tori. He taught me to use uma."

And he had simply believed him because he was the man assigned to teach him such things. Ignorant and obedient? He could add trusting and naive to that. It was disgusting.

Naruto didn't say anything. Sasuke looked up with a bitter smile. Naruto didn't know what to say that wouldn't insult him. Honestly, there was nothing anyone could say to that. "I know. Even your pregenin are taught which signs are aligned with each element. It was in one of the scrolls Iruka gave me. That's one of the most basic things anyone interested in the shinobi arts should know. Instead of training with you, maybe I should enroll in your academy."

"Sasuke-"

"What bothers me the most," he admitted, "isn't that he lied and I fell for it. What bothers me," what infuriated him, "is that he had the nerve to rub it in. He was so frustrated and disappointed that I continually failed to learn the things he spent so much time and effort attempting to teach to me. He knew how much I hated failing to learn something and he rubbed it in constantly. And I let him." That was a weakness he'd had since failing to learn that first katon quickly enough to impress his father. His teacher had seen that weakness and exploited it fully. And he had let him, because he had been convinced the flaw lay in him.

"Get lost," Naruto murmured.

Sasuke scowled when the toad dispelled and Naruto came over to lean against his back, wrapping his arms around him. "I don't want comfort," Sasuke grimaced. "I'm just angry."

"You might not want comfort, but I want to comfort you. You gonna let me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course," Naruto said brightly. "Comfort or groping. Whichever you choose is fine by me!"

He snorted at that, a reluctant smile pulling at his mouth. "If I had a choice, I would be on my way to Sand right now to beat the hell out of that man."

"And I'd be right beside you. Dad won't go for that, though. We'll have to settle for having Gaara bring your former teacher with him when he comes for a visit. Then we can take turns beating on him and Kakashi can drown what's left of him. Would that work?"

"I suppose that would suffice." There wouldn't be much left for Naruto to beat on, though. He certainly wouldn't leave anything for Kakashi. "How soon can Gaara come for a visit?"

"I'll find out," Naruto promised. He dropped his chin on Sasuke's shoulder, and one of his hands shifted to feel Sasuke's stomach through his shirt.

Even with the cloth in the way, that light touch tickled. "Naruto."

"It just occurred to me to that if you're well enough to kneel by the tub and on the livingroom floor, maybe you'd be up to doing it somewhere else. You're not supposed to do anything strenuous, but you went and moved the furniture. You're not supposed to be using chakra, but here you are using it anyway. If you're doing things you're not supposed to, why can't I? That only seems fair."

Sasuke couldn't think of anything he might actually want to do with Naruto that involved him on his knees. The first thing that came to mind was oral sex, which was the last thing he wanted to do. Now really wasn't a good time to ask him to open that 'someday, if you really want to' drawer. He caught Naruto's wrist before that hand could slide any lower. "Don't grope me in here." He shrugged Naruto off his back and quickly drained the tub. "We can't have sex in the bathroom."

"Sure we can," Naruto grinned. "We can do it anywhere in the apartment. If you consider the bathroom off limits, that's fine. But we could do it in here if we wanted to."

How? The tub was tiny and the toilet and sink barely left enough floor space for them to both sit, much less move around. He stared at the cramped little room for a moment, wondering, and then he mentally smacked himself. He was not the slightest bit interested in having sex in a bathroom. It didn't matter how other people might go about doing such a thing. He wasn't going to. "I will never have sex with you in this bathroom," he informed Naruto. "The bathroom is off limits."

Naruto shrugged, "Okay. Let's do it in the livingroom instead! I have wanted to get you on the couch since I first brought you home with me."

"I didn't agree to do anything anywhere," Sasuke pointed out. He frowned when Naruto caught his hand and tugged him to the door.

"I know, but you haven't refused yet." Naruto shot him a quick look. "Are you going to? I promise I'll be careful with you. We can do it nice and gentle."

Sasuke yanked his hand away. "I refuse. The last thing I am in the mood for right now is gentle. If that's the sort of sex you want, forget it. I'd rather go beat on a training post."

Naruto returned his scowl and grabbed his hand again. "I bet you'd like it gentle if you just tried it. But if you're in the mood for violence, I can give you that. No training post for you, though. All you get to do is sit and watch."

"Watch what?" Sasuke asked suspiciously. The grin Naruto flashed him was awfully playful considering he had just refused to have sex with him. Wasn't he going to pout? Or had Naruto expected him to refuse from the start? Maybe that 'sex in the livingroom' thing had merely been an attempt to distract him and even Naruto wasn't perverted enough to want to have sex on a room meant to entertain guests.

"Remember when you said you wanted to see how I fight my bunshin? Well, I gave it a lot of thought and I don't think you'd like it that much. They're me and think like me, so when we fight each other it's probably not very entertaining. So instead of watching me fight them, you can watch me and Lee fight them. Better, right?"

"Lee," said Sasuke. "The taijutsu specialist?"

"Got you interested, didn't I?" If Naruto grinned any wider his face would split in half. "I knew that would do it. I talked to him a little while ago. That's why I came back early. He's going to be in the village for at least two days. He was planning to do some running tomorrow morning, stupid early, but if you want to go with him I bet he'd jump at the chance to run around the forest. He hasn't been back there since the chunin exam. Too many traps and snakes. Those wouldn't be a problem with you there. You're not allowed to train, but running and jumping around should be okay. And you can watch me and my bunshin spar with him as much as you want. He's always up for that."

That sounded wonderful. He would rather join in the bunshin fight himself, but watching was the next best thing. He was automatically suspicious at having Naruto give him exactly what he wanted. "What's the catch?" Because there had to be one.

Naruto didn't even try to hide it. "No heavy lifting or punching or doing anything that would risk you taking a hit to the gut until you get cleared by a medic or Sakura-chan," he said quickly. "That means no beating on a training post, no sparring, and no swinging around on your wires and risking a fall. And if you push yourself until your injury starts hurting while you're out tomorrow, and Lee notices it, he gets to carry you back. He can't teleport, so that would be really embarrassing for you."

He was too good at hiding pain to be worried about someone else noticing, so he wasn't concerned about that threat. He hadn't planned to do any sparring or training that would risk making his injury worse before it finished healing, so agreeing to that was fine, too. Naruto's 'catch' was nothing of the sort. His suspicion deepened. "If his inability to teleport is an issue, does that mean you won't be going along? Not even with a bunshin?"

"No way," Naruto grinned. "That's way too early for me. We're talking the crack of dawn. I might wake up enough to say bye, but you're on your own if you go with him. Even a bunshin would refuse to get up and out that early for anything other than a mission. Gamakichi is a great jumper, but making himself small enough to go by tree and then being expected to keep up with you guys that early in the morning? Forget it. Don't worry, though. Lee kicks ass. If you run into something you can't handle, you couldn't ask for a better person to back you up. Besides, if it's just you and Lee you'll have a better chance to get to know him."

And hopefully like him? Of course. That was the catch. He should have guessed as much. Lee was one of Naruto's friends, and Naruto wanted more than anything for Sasuke to like his friends. Naruto was using Lee to give him what he wanted because that forced him to interact with his friend. Honestly, Sasuke didn't mind. He would get to see how Lee behaved both with and away from Naruto. And even if Lee turned out to be as irritating as Kakashi, it would be worth it to see how other people fought Naruto's bunshin. Getting to return to the forest and stretch his legs was another bonus.

"That sounds fine, then." Better than fine, it still sounded wonderful, getting exactly what he wanted when he wanted it the most. And Naruto was getting something out of it, too, so he wouldn't feel like he owed him something in return. Something like gentle sex, for instance. He would rather never know if Naruto was actually capable of making him like that. The very idea was disturbing.

Naruto released his hand when they reached the livingroom, and asked him fix whatever he had done to prevent him from teleporting in. Sasuke was startled to find that Naruto had no idea how the apartment was set to allow teleportations, because his father had set all of that for him and Sakura had helped him add Sasuke's hair to allow him in. That explained why Naruto had promised to find someone else to teach him how to teleport. He had begun to suspect it was because the Hokage didn't want him knowing that technique. Instead, it was simply because Naruto himself didn't understand how the technique worked well enough to teach it to someone else. Like Sasuke with his storage scrolls, Naruto knew how to do it without understanding anything about why it worked the way it did. Sasuke didn't know how teleporting worked, but he knew enough about chakra to disrupt a seal preventing or allowing a person entry past traps. He had simply cut one of the spiderwebbing chakra paths on the ceiling, the one leading to Naruto's picture on the bookshelf. That was far easier now that he could actually see the chakra with his sharingan. He quickly gave up trying to explain to Naruto how one went about disabling parts of a seal by using one's own chakra to break the flow. So long as he was able to repair it, Naruto was happy. It was uncomfortable how much Naruto trusted him. Letting him alter the seals on the door so he could come and go freely was very different from knowing he had messed with the interior seals that Naruto's father had set up.

He quickly decided it didn't matter. He would never do anything to the seals set up in the bedroom. That was Naruto's real sanctuary in the apartment. Even if he had messed something up and left the livingroom more vulnerable, it wouldn't make much of a difference. Terra had gotten in easily, which meant anyone could if they really wanted to. Instead of being bothered by Naruto's easy trust, he would just repay it by figuring out a way to prevent summons from slipping in so easily. He had been taught quite a few ways to get into a protected area. Finding ways to close those cracks would be a challenge. He appreciated a good challenge.

He eyed Naruto as he considered that. This wouldn't be the first time Naruto had played on his eagerness to do anything relating to training. This was certainly far better than being hugged or groped. "Is this your idea of comfort?"

Naruto laughed. "You're learning me too fast. I was enjoying being ahead for a change. What gave it away?"

"Your lack of reaction at my refusal."

"To have gentle sex?" Naruto grinned. "In the livingroom? On the couch? Even I know you're too fussy for that. You'd probably make me put a sheet down and towels and, ugh, talk about killing the mood. Not that I don't plan to get you on that couch before we move. And in the kitchen. Oh, that'll be fun. You'll really hate that."

As if him hating it would be a good thing. Naruto wasn't just a pervert, he was gross. Sex in the kitchen? That went far beyond unsanitary. There was no way he would ever agree to that, so he didn't bother commenting on it. "So you suggested it with the expectation that I would refuse?"

"Partly. If you had gone along with it, that would have been great. Unexpected chance to fulfill a fantasy. Can't complain about that. But to be honest the couch idea doesn't really fit with gentle. That would have been awkward no matter how well I improvised. I could have pulled it off, though," he said quickly, as if he was concerned Sasuke might doubt his ability to be an utter pervert. "It's been days! You don't know how close I came to jumping you last night..."

"Of course I do," Sasuke scoffed. "You slept on the couch."

"That was for your own good. And mine," Naruto admitted. "Although it did get me thinking about how nice it would have been if you had slept on the couch with me. Hence the couch sex being at the front of my mind today. But, no, I didn't really expect you to go along with it. I haven't forgotten what you're like when you need to vent. Since you're not well enough to vent with deliciously violent sex, outside we go. Getting to see some violence is the next best thing to doing some yourself, right? And if it lets me take the edge off my own urges, then, yeah, this is the best choice. That will keep me from running straight to my dad and telling him how that Sand bastard tricked you. I figure you don't want me telling anyone. I don't think you should be embarrassed, but you probably are. You really expect way too much of yourself. Even with the handsigns and good teachers, most people are lucky if they can do one nature transformation. Kakashi will give you earful on that. He can do most of them, but he's had years of experience and training, plus the sharingan, and he still calls himself a dabbler because he's only really great at the one that comes naturally. If you ask me, you should focus on what comes naturally until you're better than anyone else who uses those, and then you can play with the rest if you get bored and really want to."

Considering Naruto didn't do 'wind techniques' despite his natural affinity for wind, his opinion didn't mean much. Sasuke didn't want to argue with him on the issue. Unfortunately Naruto was in charge of his training. It was a good thing Sasuke was used to teaching himself or he would very annoyed by that attitude. "Whether I ever become proficient enough for it to be useful in battle isn't the point. I like learning new things."

"I know. I get that." Naruto flashed him a quick grin. "Everyone is hoping some of that rubs off on me. If it does, you'll have teachers popping up all over the place because anything they teach you I'll have to at least learn to counter if I want to keep up with you. My ego can't take having you leave me in the dust. So don't worry, I might not get why you want to learn everything you can get your hands on, but I'm all for it. Keeping up with you will be challenging and fun. And learning makes you happy, which makes me happy. Everyone wins!"

Maybe so. It would be very nice if things worked out that way. He considered informing Naruto that the was no such thing as 'expecting too much' out of an Uchiha. He decided against it. If Naruto considered 'learning each other' a race, then this was something Naruto could figure out on his own. As far as Sasuke was concerned, Naruto already knew him a little too well. If he wasn't currently benefiting from that, it would bother him more. He clearly had some catching up to do.

.-.

After sending a bunshin off to fetch Lee, Naruto led him to the lake. Aside from the grass being thin in spots where new grass had been planted, it was completely restored. Sasuke expressed his surprise and suppressed his annoyance at this proof of just how long he had been out of action. Naruto must have taken his surprise as praise, because he immediately swaggered and boasted about how his toads had replaced the missing water.

After few minutes of preening, Naruto deflated enough to admit, "I had help."

This was supposed to be their punishment. He didn't like the idea of other people taking care of his share of the mess. Though, even if he hadn't wound up in the hospital Naruto's bunshin would probably have done the majority of the work. His idea to replace the water had been to fire enough katons at the sky to make a storm. Naruto's toads were definitely a quicker and more surefire method. He was still annoyed that he had missed the chance to find out if his method would have worked. He had especially been looking forward to Naruto's expression when he suggested it. It would have been amusing. He tore his eyes away from the lake with a frown. "Help from whom?"

"A certain Anbu," Naruto drawled, his eyes narrowing deviously, "who would really like to have a rematch with you. And a friend of Kakashi's, who does wood release. That was really cool. I'm sorry you missed seeing that."

"Wood?"

"I don't know how to explain that, either," Naruto admitted. "The first Hokage was famous for that. I didn't know anyone else had ever managed it. Kakashi says it's some sort of combination of earth and water, but it's more like a bloodline limit where you have to be born with it."

That explained why it hadn't been mentioned in Iruka's scrolls. Sasuke was also sorry he had missed seeing that. He had never heard of someone combining earth and water to grow anything, much less some sort of plant that could mimic manmade structures. He went over to inspect the dock. There were no visible nails, but it certainly didn't look like that something that had been grown into place. It was a nearly perfect replica of the original one, enough so that he disliked standing at the edge of it. He turned around to find Naruto right behind him. He raised an eyebrow at his pouting expression. "What?"

"You're not even going to comment on the Anbu? I thought you'd be jumping all over that."

He might have been eager for a rematch had he considered himself the loser of that fight. But that Anbu had been determined to kill him with his sword. He was confident that would never have happened. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, he would never have cut me. His wind gave him an advantage, but I'm probably better with a sword than he is."

"I figured that by how badly he wants a rematch," Naruto scoffed. "Dad said he's not allowed to bug you about it, so I promised him I'd ask. I really thought you'd say yes. I don't know anyone outside of Anbu who uses a sword. If you're that good with one, we'll have to get you one. But there's not much point if you don't have anyone to use it with. Slicing up my bunshin would get real boring real fast."

"That remains to be seen," Sasuke said sharply. He had to forcefully reign in his eagerness. He was not going to trade a rematch with that Anbu in exchange for a sword. There were three swords for sale in the weapons shop he and Naruto had visited. Although they didn't compare to his father's blade, they were far superior to any of the ones his employers had supplied him with. If he really could get B-rank pay for milking snakes, whether it was for medics or Ibiki, then he would be able to buy his own sword. Even doing C and D rank missions would be better than letting Naruto 'gift' him with one in exchange for interacting with someone who had such a clear bias against him and possibly his entire clan. "If I decide to get a sword, I may find dispatching your bunshin with it vastly entertaining. For now, I'm far more interested in improving my taijutsu, especially where your bunshin are concerned."

"So...no rematch?"

"No rematch."

Naruto sighed, eyeing him doubtfully. "I was sure you'd say yes."

"You were wrong." But only because Naruto wasn't aware of the words he and that Anbu had exchanged. He had no intention of mentioning that to him. For all he knew, that man regretted his immediate suspicions and had helped Naruto with the lake in order to make up for his behavior. If he wanted to make up for it with Naruto, that was fine. As a future Hokage, Naruto needed to be on good terms with his people. Sasuke, however, had no such need. He fully intended to view all Anbu with suspicion from now on. No amicable rematches or nice gestures would change that. Terra's warning had been exactly right, after all. The first sign of trouble and he was the one blamed. Maybe a few years of his presence here or a formal alliance with the clan would change that. He would be on guard in the meantime.

"Naruto-kun!"

Sasuke turned, looked up at the crest of the hill, and promptly winced. He wiped the expression off his face as quickly as he could and hoped Naruto's clone hadn't caught it. The green-clad boy might have caught it, but considering his appearance the boy should be used to that reaction. He was wearing a form-fitting green jumpsuit, had very thick blocky black eyebrows, an awful hair cut, enormous eyes, and unnaturally white teeth. Sasuke knew better than to judge a person by their appearance, he really did, but sometimes it was difficult not to. The boy didn't even look particularly muscular for a so-called taijutsu expert. Maybe like Sakura he had some ability that made him far stronger than he appeared to be. Or he could be surprisingly fast and agile, which would definitely make up for a lack of sheer brute strength. By the time Naruto's friend reached them, Sasuke had talked himself into giving him the benefit of the doubt. Then the boy spoke and Sasuke's first impression was cemented.

Pure exuberant enthusiasm and the confidence to match. It was a bit off-putting, like his appearance, but he greeted Sasuke with an edge of formality that proved he was quite capable of toning things down depending on who he was dealing with. Together with Naruto, Lee was a ball of energy in search of something to explode against. Sasuke was curious to see whether he suppressed that or expressed it in a different manner when they went out alone tomorrow. He was looking forward to that and he hadn't even seen the boy fight yet. All told, it was a positive first impression. He wouldn't tell Naruto that, though. The hopeful looks Naruto kept shooting his way were too annoying. He held his silence for the most part and then retreated to the crest of the hill. Leave it to Naruto to decide to have his bunshin fight on the freshly repaired lake. Lee vowed they would not do anything that might damage the new dock or the fragile young grass, and Naruto acted insulted that Sasuke would even suggest such a thing. Sasuke didn't particularly care. If they damaged something, he would help them repair it. A taijutsu fight on water was far more difficult than doing it on land. He couldn't wait to see it. Naruto really was going out of his way to make him happy. It was working.

.-.  
TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Naruto had removed his jacket so his white undershirt stood out as well as Lee's green against all of that orange. It was a handicap for Naruto since it let the clones tell him from each other, particularly when he used the replacement technique to switch places with one of them. At first Sasuke thought he had done that for his sake, so he could follow the action better. He quickly realized Naruto had done it primarily to protect himself from Lee, who fought as if he expected the clones to survive past one hit. Few of them did. They also refrained from anything resembling a dogpile after the first attempt ended with all six clones dispelled within seconds. Lee had done that with his feet, a flurry of carefully aimed kicks to the neck, gut, and one to the crotch that had obviously been an accident because Lee grimaced after landing it. The nearest clones taunted him about that, whatever they said making Lee's cheeks go bright red and causing him to stick with punches and blows aimed strictly at chest level until a clone hidden in the water caught his ankle and yanked him beneath the surface. From the splashing there had to be quite a few clones in the water with him. Naruto charged in to clear the area while Lee climbed out, soaking wet and looking embarrassed. There was a brief pause as Naruto bickered with his clones. The argument ended with a dogpile that sent Naruto and all the clones on top of him into the water. Naruto broke the surface with two fewer clones than he had gone in with and bickered with the survivors until they reached an agreement. There was no more dunking Lee after that. Naruto, on the other hand, was fair game. Judging by his grin, he didn't mind that at all.

They made it look fun. Lee was fast and extremely controlled, yet he gave the appearance of being utterly casual about it. He threw his blows as accurately as Sasuke threw weapons, knowing exactly how they might be deflected and ready to counter if they were. He also had shocking chakra control for someone Naruto claimed wasn't good at any ninjutsu. He balanced on his hands as easily as he did his feet, flipping around as if he were on stable land rather than water. There were a few instances where he appeared to be holding himself on just his fingertips and there was no hesitation involved, nothing to imply he had to concentrate more in order to do that. He appeared to be in his element, doing what came naturally and enjoying it. Naruto, on the other hand, was obviously playing with his clones rather than taking them as out as quickly as possible. Sasuke couldn't hear the taunts being exchanged, but he could see the grins and flashes of outrage. While Lee remained in the middle of the lake taking all comers and reacting accordingly, Naruto was all over the place causing confusion in the ranks. Even without the white shirt, Naruto's movements could easily be tracked by the poofs and the occasional splash accompanying the disappearance of an entire pile of clones. Sasuke had to watch him closely before he realized Naruto was using a henge to 'vanish' among the clones, leaving him free to start trouble and then slip away while they were fighting each other in search of the fake.

Sasuke quickly went from being a riveted spectator to wanting to be out there himself. Would he be able to hold himself on water using his hands? Even for a moment? Forget bouncing around and bracing himself strongly enough to kick with his full strength, he wasn't sure he could manipulate his chakra well enough to support his own weight with his palms. He would probably sink head first the first time he tried it. That was something he would have to practice in private. And why hadn't he considered using a henge to fool Naruto's clones? Naruto had defensively insisted that being bad at genjutsu didn't make a person a bad shinobi. Naruto had said that because he was bad at genjutsu. His clones couldn't see through a henge because he couldn't. It was so simple it would never have occurred to Sasuke at all. The lack of urgency in their fight was especially appealing. Did they consider this sparring? They were taking their time, trying things out and enjoying the process. That was experimentation in his mind, not sparring. Sparring, like a real fight, was a competition in which losing had serious consequences. Was that something else he had been taught wrong?

He had never sparred with anyone until his jounin instructor. None of his missions were supposed to involve fighting unless it was necessary to kill a target. Usually a fight meant something unexpected had happened, that the intelligence had been off or he had been spotted or ambushed or had failed in some way. He had only fought when forced to do so, and he had quickly learned not to risk a fight he was liable to lose because losing meant death. He had gotten very good at avoiding unnecessary risks. Openly attacking someone he didn't want dead and trusting that person not to kill him if he lost had been an utterly foreign concept by the time he returned to the clan. Sparring, as his teacher had taught him, was a training exercise that relied primarily on trust. Sasuke didn't trust anyone with his life, so instead they had made strict rules between them about what was and wasn't allowed during a spar. Gotou had emphasized the etiquette and proper form of a formal spar, which Lee exhibited between bunshin attacks. Lee's chagrin at that below-the-belt hit told him his teacher hadn't lied about that much. Cheap tricks like Naruto blinding him with his forehead protector had no place in sparring. But even with carefully observed rules the consequences of losing had remained severe. Humiliation was bad enough without serious injury. It had only taken a few losses before he had learned to spar the same way he had fought, by limiting the risks and waiting for the openings needed to win. Cracked ribs took forever to heal. He had gotten grim satisfaction the first time he had done that himself. But unlike him, Gotou had access to medics and had returned a few days later as able as ever. It was only when Sasuke had improved enough to damage him so severely he couldn't walk home on his own that the sparring had ended.

But was that really sparring? To him it had been more like a personal mission, a long extended one that had lasted until he had finally learned enough to take his target out with little effort and no personal risk. According to his teacher people sparred so the stronger could prove himself, so the weaker could improve himself, and so equals could test themselves against each other. Had that been true, Gotou should have kept sparring with him in order to improve after he had surpassed him. The fact that he hadn't wanted to had told Sasuke he had been right all along. Sparring with someone stronger was, at best, a risky and unpleasant way to improve. An experienced shinobi didn't engage in fights he was bound to lose because the consequences of losing weren't worth it.

After talking to Iruka he now knew the Chunin Exam traditionally featured public fights that were similar to the 'sparring' he had done with his instructor. He supposed Gotou might have been preparing him for that. The very idea of fighting someone seriously with an audience of strangers watching was disturbing. That was one reason to be glad he would never be advancing in rank. Only the people he had fought with and killed had ever seen what he was truly capable of and they had taken those secrets to the grave. That was the entire point. Shinobi attacked from the shadows not only to get the drop on their enemies, but to hide their secrets from enemies and allies alike. No one had needed to teach him that. He had seen it for himself in every shinobi he had ever encountered. As much as he liked proving his strength, doing so usually meant revealing weaknesses at the same time and he hated doing that. Even with Gotou, Sasuke had never attacked him unless he had been confident his attacks would land with the desired results. Their early spars had been him defending and evading until he saw an opening. The hardest part had been forcing himself to stand his ground and continue taking part in the fight when he knew he was going to lose and it was going to be embarrassing and painful when he did. That had taught him basic taijutsu, but more importantly it had taught him that there was more to 'fighting' than killing and dying, and that the avoidance behavior that had kept him alive between missions was a hindrance when it came training. He had never learned to like sparring with his teacher, but he at least learned to tolerate it. In retrospect, his instructor should have stood in one place like Kakashi and invited him to attack instead of attacking himself. Then he would never have done anything and thus would have learned nothing from him. As it was, he still didn't know how to attack someone he didn't want dead. Attacking someone openly, without having any idea how his opponent might react, went against every instinct he had. It would be easier to intentionally walk into a fire than to jump blindly into a fight.

Honestly, he had learned to hate everything related to sparring. And then he had 'sparred' with Naruto and that really had been more like a training exercise, a series of games or experiments. And now this?

What Naruto and Lee were doing was nothing like sparring in his mind. Naruto and Lee clearly weren't in danger of losing against the clones. Some of the clones were armed, namely the ones going after Naruto, but they weren't aiming for arteries or headshots. The ones using taijutsu were a little more reckless, but there was little chance of serious injury if Lee failed to dodge because they weren't fighting that way. Even if they did have an accident and take serious damage, there was Sakura and Tsunade and an entire hospital of medics a quick teleportation away. There were no consequences to this fight. This wasn't sparring. This was playing. He supposed it could be considered training since Naruto would get the experience from all the clones, and Lee was definitely moving around enough to get a good workout. Whatever they called it, he envied them. He also envied the fact that Naruto's bunshin didn't pull their punches with Lee the way they had with him.

When there were only a fourth of the clones left, Naruto put his jacket back on and joined the clones' side of the fight against Lee. Sasuke was surprised that Lee didn't change his fighting style at all. He obviously couldn't tell Naruto apart from the clones, yet he used the same moves and the same amount of force on everyone who came near him. When one of his opponents struck back rather than poofing out, he reacted as if he had expected that all along. Maybe he was always prepared for a possible counter attack. It appeared to be automatic, the same way he used his chakra to keep himself above the water whether he was on both feet or braced with just the fingertips of one hand. Sasuke had no trouble picking the real Naruto out from among the bunshin. They looked the same to the sharingan, but the real Naruto behaved differently and that was very evident from where Sasuke was sitting. The clones knew they could be taken out by one hard hit from Lee, so they only risked that when it was to the real Naruto's advantage. Although Lee's taijutsu was far superior, Naruto's plotting had him on the run to avoid being dunked. That was the goal now, getting him in the air and then keeping his hands and feet occupied so he hit the water in an awkward position. Lee was quick enough to twist and catch himself with a knee or elbow if he fell from the side, but when he hit the water with his back he sunk like a brick. Then the bunshin crowded around the surface so he had to fight his way back out. Naruto stepped on his head at one point, casually pushing him back under. Instead of being furious, Lee came up sputtering and grinning and promptly grabbed Naruto's ankle and yanked him under as well. That was when things dissolved into chaos.

Sasuke stared in growing shock. There was no one left on top of the water. It was just a mess of blonde heads and flailing orange-clad arms, with a few glimpses of a black head and flailing green-clad arms. He doubted anyone had ever dared to swim in this lake while the clan had resided here. It was a landmark, such a vital part of their tradition that they had painstakingly recreated it after leaving this place. Within the space of a week Sasuke had helped to destroy it and turn it into a swimming pool for frolicking shinobi. If the elders had been dead, they would be rolling in their graves. Instead of being annoyed that Naruto had obviously forgotten that the point of this exercise was to give him some vicarious violence, he found himself fighting a laugh. Playing in that lake was more of a sacrilege than destroying it had been. How many times since returning to the clan had he stood at the end of that dock and thought about diving into the center of that lake just to prove to himself that he was no longer afraid of falling in there? He was very tempted to join the pair of idiots. Unfortunately he had only been taught to get to the surface and climb out. He would never be able to swim well enough to avoid drowning in the middle of that mass of flailing limbs. Not to mention the fact that this was a public space. He was quickly reminded of that by the appearance of a very large dog over the crest of the hill a few yards to his left.

People had arrived. That had been inevitable. He was just glad they were too late to ruin his enjoyment of the fight. The pair who joined the dog looked close to Naruto's age. The young man was tall with bushy brown hair, and the much shorter girl had black hair and eyes that were very familiar. Pale periwinkle with no visible pupils. One of the Hyuuga clan? He wondered if this was the cousin Naruto had spoken of or someone else. His attention was quickly drawn back to the dog. It was enormous, more than waist high, yet it barked rather than speaking. He would have guessed it was a summon from its size.

"What the hell are they doing?" the boy demanded. He sounded shocked. Even the girl had a hand over her mouth, her eyes very wide as she stared at the lake. The dog barked again and then took off down the hill. The young man flinched and bolted after him. "No! Akamaru, don't! Not this lake!"

And now there was a dog swimming across this old Uchiha landmark. Sasuke snorted and put a hand over his face to hide his grin. There had to be ancestors of his buried somewhere in this village. They would definitely be rolling in their graves at this absurdity.

The dog's owner halted at the edge of the dock, yelling for him to get out of there, and then yelling at Naruto and Lee for giving him the idea in the first place because didn't they know what this lake was? Had they lost their damned minds?

That was enough to sober Sasuke up. If the Hokage still hadn't told Naruto how this lake was related to his clan, he would rather have kept it that way. He didn't want Naruto wondering why he had helped to damage it so badly. He certainly didn't want him to regret playing in the damn thing. It was just a lake, the deepest body of water in the village according to Naruto, so it was past time someone here repurposed it. Preserving it as an abandoned piece of history was pointless. They should deposit some fish in there or turn it into a training area. Or maybe they could add a diving board at the end of that damned dock. He sighed at himself. So much for his having worked out his resentment toward this lake with that fiery explosion. Naruto had barely finished repairing the place and he already wanted to destroy it again.

A gasp told him the girl had finally noticed him. He didn't glance over until she came to a stop a few feet away and bowed formally before apologizing profusely.

"It's just a lake," Sasuke stopped her. "Whatever purpose it served my clan ended the day they left it behind."

It continued to serve as a reminder to him, to the Hokage, and obviously to other clans like the Hyuuga clan. But it was just a lake to Naruto and Lee, and the dog. If he was going to be walking past this place on a regular basis he would much rather be reminded of those three swimming around like children than of his own history with the duplicate of this lake.

"Besides," Sasuke drawled, "Naruto worked very hard to repair the damage he and I did to this lake. It's only fitting that he be one of the first to swim in it."

"He and you? We heard he was repairing it because he had used some sort of new attack to...oh. Oh, of course. Please excuse me!" She gave him a distracted bow and rushed down the hill. "Kiba-kun...!"

He raised an eyebrow as he watched her pull the boy away from the dock. He was curious what sort of story they had heard. His attention shifted back to the swimmers. At first he thought Naruto must have released his clones. Then one of the remaining clones was taken out by an erupting splash of white fur. The other clones clustered more tightly around Naruto and Lee, who were both grinning their fool heads off. Either the dog's owner hadn't gotten a chance to tell Naruto about the supposed importance of this lake, or Naruto already knew and didn't care. The two boys ducked into the water just as the dog knocked another clone into the air like a furry shark diving up from the depths and poofing it between its teeth. The next time the dog emerged it had Lee clinging to its back and a Naruto hanging from each floppy brown ear. It let out a loud whine that made its owner rush back to the edge of the dock to yell at the boys. Sasuke abruptly found himself amused and envious again. Naruto really was ridiculously childish, and Lee was clearly no better. They made it look fun, though.

An almost inaudible swish of grass killed the mood as swiftly as a shuriken to the back. Sasuke shot a glare over his shoulder. Kakashi hadn't gotten that close this time, but for all he knew the man hadn't actually been trying to sneak up on him. The man hesitated for a moment, blinking at his expression, and then continued over until he was standing beside him. Kakashi looked down at the lake without saying a word. Sasuke looked back at the lake himself. He wasn't going to ask what Kakashi wanted. He didn't care what Kakashi wanted. He finally understood how Naruto could switch moods so quickly. He had never gone from fighting the urge to smile to wanting to hurt someone in a matter of seconds. It was a jarring sensation, like taking an extra step at the bottom of a set of stairs only to find that there were no more stairs. He really needed to stop viewing Kakashi as an extension of his own jounin instructor. Kakashi had irritated him, but he hadn't done anything to justify the violent resentment Sasuke felt the moment he saw the man. Misplaced aggression? Probably. Acknowledging that didn't make it go away, though.

Sasuke wasn't the only one who reacted to the sight of Kakashi. One glance up at them and Naruto immediately stopped playing. Within a few minutes he and Lee were wringing their clothes out on the bank, and then wringing them out again after the dog shook its wet fur so hard they were soaked again. From the quick talking, it was obvious Naruto convinced the dog owner and the Hyuuga girl to leave without talking to him again. Lee waved and grinned at him, and then accompanied the other two and the dog as they left. Naruto was unhappy and suspicious by the time he finally came to a wet halt in front of Kakashi.

"Why are you here?" asked Naruto. "Did my dad send you? Or-"

"Ibiki."

Naruto grimaced. "Not today. Tomorrow afternoon, I promise. I'll take him there as soon as I get done in the mission room. I'll even wait outside if I have to."

"It can't be put off any longer," Kakashi warned him.

"I know. Just not today." Naruto stared at him for a full minute, and then he winced. "Will you go away now? Please?"

Kakashi chuckled and turned away. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, Sasuke. Sorry to intrude on your first day out and about. Even with refrigeration, dead bodies just don't keep that well."

Naruto folded his arms over his chest and scowled after the man. Then he sent Sasuke a worried look. "Sorry. They decided pictures aren't enough, so they want you to look at the body itself. But Dad said it could wait at least another day or two. I didn't expect Ibiki to send Kakashi looking for you or I would have warned them off earlier. Did he ruin it?"

"Ruin what?" asked Sasuke. "The dog drowning? The fight was over long before he showed up."

Naruto grinned at that. "There is no way we could drown Akamaru. He's even stronger than he looks. He was just whining because he wanted Kiba to come in with him. I'm surprised he didn't. Kiba is usually up for that sort of fun. I guess he was worried we'd damage the lake again. He and Hinata just got back from a mission and heard about my toads dumping water in here, so they came to check it out. Did they talk to you before Akamaru jumped in? Hinata is Neji's cousin, one of the Hyuuga clan. She was supposed to be the heir, but her little sister Hanabi ended up getting stuck with that instead. It's a real shame. Hinata is a lot easier to get along with. But she says her sister will be a better leader than she would, so there's no arguing with her on the subject. She's a chunin. Neji thinks she's probably nearly as strong as him now, but she's not showing anyone. I'm pretty sure it's because of her sister. They have a complicated family."

"I'm sure." Sasuke's tone might have been the reason Naruto quickly dropped that subject.

"So?" Naruto prompted. "Did we put on a good show? Before the whole dog drowning part?"

"Yes," Sasuke assured him. He didn't mention that he had enjoyed the dog drowning part as well. "Lee is as good as you said he was. You were wrong about you fighting your own clones, though. I found that interesting, too. How did you ever graduate from the academy without being able to see through a henge? Iruka should be ashamed of himself."

"Oh, don't start on that," Naruto groaned. "I've been getting that since I..."

"Graduated from the academy?"

"Shut up!"

Sasuke smirked. "I'll teach you how to see through a henge, just as soon as I get bored using that trick on your clones myself."

"Yeah, right," Naruto scoffed, grinning back at him. "People have been trying to teach me that for years. And I bet anything you won't get bored, you'll just get creative. My first henge was my sexy jutsu. All you'd have to do is henge your shirt off and boom, an army of clones down with a nosebleed. If you flashed some full nudity they'd probably poof right out. There's a good reason I learned that trick. Even people who can see through a henge can be shocked senseless if you flash the right thing at them."

Ridiculously childish, but not wrong. Sasuke was sure he would have been completely thrown if an enemy had randomly transformed into a naked woman. Sometimes all a person needed was the element of surprise. He hoped he wasn't giving Naruto any ideas. Even after having seen that transformation of his, he didn't know how he would react if Naruto suddenly used it during a fight with him. As eager as he was to fight Naruto's clones again, the thought of being surrounded by an army of naked female Narutos was downright traumatizing. He already knew they would squish themselves all over him. He made sure to keep his face blank as he forced that image away. If Naruto hadn't already considered doing that, Sasuke definitely didn't want to put that thought into his head. If it happened, he would deal with it. Hopefully it never happened.

"Did Lee say what time he would be coming by the apartment tomorrow?" asked Sasuke.

"Five!" Naruto winced. "He wants to circle around to the gate his team entered during the exam so you guys can go in just as the sun goes up. I warned you he was insane. No one should be up that early unless they haven't gone to bed yet."

"You can go back to sleep after I leave. And speaking of leaving," Sasuke sighed, "you didn't have to send your friends away just because I was here. Had they shown up sooner they would have been a distraction," and an annoyance, "but the fight was already over. You could have spent some time with them. Especially if those two just returned from a mission and were concerned enough to immediately seek you out."

"I just want you to meet them in small doses, you know? I figure if you meet them one by one then you'll have a better-"

"You have too many friends for that," Sasuke interrupted him. "Meeting them one by one would take forever. Invite whichever ones are in the village to dinner tonight and get it over with."

"Dinner?" Naruto blinked. "In my apartment? There aren't enough chairs! Although we might be able to fit everyone in the livingroom if most of us eat on the floor. The girls could sit at the table in the kitchen. Or maybe...wait," he frowned, "are you offering to cook for all my friends? Seriously?"

Sasuke let out a long sigh. "In case you hadn't noticed, we have a lot of food that is on the verge of expiring. You apparently ate ramen the entire time I was in the hospital. Yesterday, after I specifically told you I would be cooking, you brought home more ramen."

"That was Ichiraku's! It was a treat! And I still ate the dinner you cooked."

"Followed by instant ramen. If you were still hungry you should have eaten something out of the refrigerator."

"I wasn't hungry, I just wanted ramen."

"The point is I hate waste and dislike postponing the inevitable. Invite your friends. I'll feed and be civil to the ones who show up. If they annoy me, I'll retire early. I have the perfect excuse since I'll be getting up at four in the morning."

"What? Lee isn't coming till five!"

"Yes, and I'd like to be awake and ready to go when he arrives."

That clearly hadn't occurred to Naruto because he looked startled and horrified at the thought. As if four in the morning was that much worse than five.

Sasuke scoffed at him, "I'll sleep on the couch so you won't even notice when I leave."

"No," Naruto said quickly. "I'll survive waking up at four. I want to at least say bye to you. I can go back to sleep after you're gone. That'll give me at least a few hours of sleep before I have to get back up. You might even be back by then," he flashed him a taunting look, "if you wear yourself out so much Lee has to carry you home early."

"That won't happen." Sasuke rose and brushed the grass off. "Are we going to teleport back to the apartment?"

"Only because I'm soaked. Then we're coming right back. I have to show you that house! I keep planning on it and then something pops up. But today's the day! As soon as I change we'll go check it out. Then if you still feel like feeding my hoard of friends, I'll send out the invites and see who bites. You know Sakura will," he warned him. "Lee might not, if he cons Tenten or Neji into sparring with him. That's where he was headed next. Chouji will definitely show, he's always up for food. You could pile him up with leftovers if you really want to clean out the fridge. You don't even have to cook it all first. He'll take it home and cook it up himself as a midnight snack. But, yeah, let's wait and see how you feel after you see the house."

"You think I'll be in a bad mood after seeing it?"

"Maybe," Naruto admitted. He sent him a worried look. "If it's anything like this lake."

Sasuke was stunned, and a little impressed. Naruto knew about this lake and had played in it anyway? Or had he played in it because he knew the importance of it? "When did you find out the history behind this lake?"

"When Kakashi brought his friend by to replace the dock," Naruto sighed. "I already guessed, though, since you said your clan had a lake like this, and my dad called it an 'important landmark' that no longer had a function."

"What did Kakashi tell you this lake was used for?"

"Katon," said Naruto. "Fireball jutsu. That's why the dock is so narrow and the lake is so deep. He said every Uchiha who enrolled in the academy learned their first fire jutsu here. Is that what your lake is used for?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you hate it?"

Sasuke stared at him in shock. Naruto's expression was far too knowing. He let out a sharp breath and nearly laughed. "Am I that transparent?"

Naruto gave a wincing smile. "Not usually. It was really obvious there was something about this lake that bothered you. Even when we were cleaning up the wood you either glared at it or avoiding looking at it. And then when we got here today you...well, you definitely didn't look happy to see it all fixed up again."

He was reminded of that genin photo Sand had taken of him. Sometimes he gave far more away than he thought he did. He would have to work on that. Naruto was waiting, watching him but not asking the question. He had only told one person about his fear of water, a shinobi who had been trying to show him a water justu most often used by his target. That had been a humiliating moment, but finally being rid of that phobia had been more than worth it. It really was a silly thing that had held him back for far too long. Had he simply told his father that day on the dock his father would have tossed him in the water and he would have realized within seconds that everyone floated in the absence of a strong current and he'd had nothing to fear from that damned lake. Keeping that secret had never brought anything good. There was no sense keeping it now.

"I almost drowned in a river during my first mission," said Sasuke. "As soon as I got home, my father took me to our lake to teach me my first fire jutsu. I couldn't learn it because I was too afraid of the water to concentrate. But I didn't tell him that. It took me forever to manage a decent katon and by then it was too late. I didn't tell anyone about my problem with water for three years." He scoffed at himself. "All it took was for someone to force me into some water and that phobia was gone. It was a stupid fear to begin with." But it had held him back and ruined what should have been the most important moment of his life. "It wasn't even water itself I was afraid of, it was being held under the water by the currents. I have been back to that river and I still can't figure out how I survived those rapids. I'm not surprised it left me with problems. I just hate that I didn't know enough to just admit my problem so someone could help me fix it."

"You went back to the river," Naruto said slowly, "like eating the snake that ate you...?"

"Yes, just like that that." Sasuke shook his head. Naruto was trying to lighten the mood, but there was really no need for it. "That was the plan, but once I actually saw the river again I had to reconsider. I couldn't see any logic in jumping into that water. Between the current and the rocks, it's deadly in that spot. I couldn't even risk walking across the surface. I jumped across it instead. That visit was a total waste of time."

"Pointless, just like me destroying that skull would be. I get that."

Because, as with this lake, destroying the reminder didn't change the past. It had felt good at the time, though. Naruto was quiet for so long that Sasuke finally realized he was glaring at the lake. He really was transparent. He forced his eyes away and braced himself for another of those knowing looks. Instead he found Naruto smirking at him. His eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Is that what you showed Kakashi?" Naruto demanded eagerly. "That river? Is that why he wanted to drown your teacher? I couldn't figure that out, him wanting to drown someone. He doesn't use water jutsu that much. He has an earth jutsu that would be a lot more humiliating if he just wanted to torture the guy, but he specifically said drowning so I didn't know what to think. Is that what you did to Kakashi? Used your genjutsu to drown him? What did that have to do with your teacher?"

"Basically," Sasuke admitted. "I don't know anything about Kakashi, so I couldn't create a genjutsu geared toward him. I told Kakashi that my jounin teacher tried to teach me wind but water suited me better. I said that after showing just how bad I am at using water jutsu without a water source nearby, so he probably assumed Gotou had taught me that. He didn't. Gotou never made a secret of the fact that he was afraid of water, so when I developed that genjutsu I drowned him with it. Having lived through the experience myself that is a more vivid illusion than any I could make up. I did the same thing with Kakashi, but he wasn't afraid of it. With him, it was more a matter of keeping him under until he physically stopped breathing. You don't have to be afraid of water for it to kill you."

"Sort of like snakes."

Naruto was definitely trying to lighten the mood. "Yes," Sasuke sighed, "except you were never really afraid of snakes. You just have a strong dislike of them. Right?"

"Well, I did have nightmares for a long time. But it wasn't snakes so much as being eaten by one. Like how yours wasn't water so much as being held under it."

And thus they had so much in common. If he was transparent then Naruto was downright invisible. There really was no need for this. But if Naruto wanted it that badly, he would give it to him. "Right."

Naruto beamed, and had he not been soaking wet he probably would have hugged him even though they were in public. That cheerfulness lasted through the trip to the apartment, the walk back to the lake, and all the way to the entrance to the former Uchiha compound. At that point the happiness was exchanged for a watchful wariness that had Sasuke blanking his own expression more than he actually needed to.

The walls were surprising because of what they implied, but they and the buildings were nothing like the structures he had grown up with. They couldn't have been. Even if the clan had wanted to reproduce their homes, buildings like these would have been ovens and freezers in a desert environment. There were enough similarities in the layout of the streets to make him wonder if he would find the remnants of a shrine here in the same general area as the one at home, and whether this one had hidden the same secrets as their own. Aside from that, there was nothing that jumped out at him the way the lake had. The area was as heavily populated as the rest of the village, with fewer shops and a stronger concentration of shinobi than civilians. And children. There were quite a few children running around. Naruto had said something about this place being redone for orphans, but it had clearly been an attractive area for shinobi families to settle. Here they at least had private yards and fewer neighbors. He could see how the clan might have resented being isolated here, particularly with walls separating them from the rest of the village. But the clan members he had met would probably have been more comfortable living separately from the more crowded parts of the village. Perhaps they had always been here and the walls had been a late addition to cement their isolation, a very visible reminder of the distrust on both sides.

The house itself was impressive. It was a two story building with a stone wall separating it from the street and appeared far too large for a family of four. Or a family of three, if he really had been born here. There were overgrown trees visible to either side of the entryway, denoting side yards that probably connected to an open area in the back as well. He wouldn't be finding out today because, as Naruto had claimed, the place was heavily warded. He was inspecting the ones to either side of the front door when Naruto finally broke his silence.

"The roof looks okay, doesn't it? We'd have to do something about those trees, and those vine things going up that wall. Do you think that one is going in the window? It looks like it is. That could be a problem. But it's a really nice house, even for this area. And if it lasted this long without anyone taking care of it, it should be really easy to keep up. Don't you think?"

"It's fine," Sasuke said, sending him a quelling look. "I have no memories of this place, positive or negative. It's just a house. It's far too big for two people, but if your father is hoping to breed us both we may end up being glad for the space."

"He's not breeding us. Stop saying it like that. We're not dogs."

They might as well be. Sasuke didn't bother arguing with him. "The only problem with this house is that you can't enter it with these wards. I'll have to redo them first."

"Can you go in?"

"Of course. This is my father's work. It's set up a little differently from the ones at home, but I would recognize his style anywhere." He must have lived here because he was included on the 'guest list'. The strange thing was that it was set to alert the occupants if any other Uchiha attempted to enter. Had the clan been suspicious of their own following the Kyuubi attack or was that particular to his father? No one took precautions like that in the current clan compound. They must have left those suspicions behind when they had left. "There should be more wards set up along the perimeter and some key ones inside. I'd guess four or five pints to redo them all. That's a little over a week," he said, though he really doubted Naruto was that bad at math. "It takes two days to replenish a pint of blood."

"Who uses that much blood to secure a house?" Naruto demanded.

If Naruto thought that was bad, he would be horrified to learn how much had been used on their temple. The elders had supplied that. He couldn't remember the exact amount, but Shisui had joked they could have painted the place inside and out with that much blood. The clan never took security lightly. "Four or five pints is a standard amount for a private residence. These wards are permanent, after all. They're as strong today as they were the day they were applied. If I were just going to add you, it wouldn't take more than a pint. But I'm going to redo them completely. It's best that Itachi not have free access to this place once we take up residence here." He raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you agree?"

"Oh, shit. I didn't even think of that. You mean these wards would let him-" He cut himself off with a grimace. "Of course they do. This was his house, too. Shit! Why didn't anyone mention that to me? They knew I was planning to bring you here and they didn't even consider that? What the hell? He was here. No one knows why or what he did while he was here. For all we know he could have waltzed into this house and rigged the whole place to blow. And I was about to suggest you take a look around without me! There's no way we can risk that now. I can't believe no one mentioned that me."

"Why would he have done anything to this house?" asked Sasuke. "It has been here since the clan left. Once you're living here he might have reason to target this place. But he couldn't have guessed anyone of importance would ever step foot in there when he entered this village. And you talked about me spotting ulterior motives where there are none. If no one mentioned the possibility to you, that's because it's too remote to even consider. Don't be paranoid."

"I'd rather be paranoid than have you walk in there and blow up. No, sorry, I can't let you go in there alone."

"I wasn't planning to go in alone," Sasuke informed him. "If we're going to live here together, we can see it for the first time together. It will take half a pint from each of us to just to get you in this door. Since I intend to run tomorrow morning, and I have an appointment with Ibiki after that, we'll have to wait until tomorrow evening at the earliest."

"Wait, when you said four or five pints, you meant from each of us? Ten pints of blood just to secure a house? And you call that a 'standard' amount? No, you don't get to call me paranoid. If that's normal for your clan, then you guys are definitely the paranoid ones." Naruto folded his arms over his chest and looked askance at both him and the door. "That's just crazy."

He wondered how Naruto would react if he informed him that it had likely taken his parents three months of regular bleeding to add him to this family seal. That was obviously a tradition that would not be allowed if they did move children into this house. He would keep that in mind while redoing the wards. If he allowed them to be connected to some strategically placed hairs it would keep any 'new family members' nearly as safe as blood seals. Those markers would just have to be replaced regularly until the children were old enough for Naruto to allow them to donate blood for a permanent form of protection.

"Touch the wall," said Sasuke.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

Naruto laid a hand on the stone wall and gave him a funny look when nothing happened.

"Now touch the door."

Naruto had to lean back to see the silvery blue sheen that set up over the house. Now that was a familiar sight, Sasuke admitted. A welcome one. That was home, the sort of protection only family could provide. The shield that formed from combining his and Naruto's blood was bound to be different. That was probably for the best. This was the shield around his parents' home. He would never see them step foot in this house.

"What kind of shield is that?" asked Naruto.

"A blood one. Don't any of the clans in your village use blood seals?"

"I wouldn't know," Naruto admitted sheepishly. "I've never been invited into one of their areas. Neji and Hinata have their own apartments away from their clan, and Shino definitely isn't the sort to bring someone home with him. I don't even think his teammates have seen where his family lives. I think the Inuzuka use blood in their wards, but I always thought that was because of their nindogs. They do a lot of things that rely more on scent than chakra. I don't know much about seals in general."

"I noticed that. Don't worry," he said, when Naruto glowered at him, "if you ever want to learn more about seals in general, I'll teach you what I know. For the wards I intend to place here the work is already done for us. Alignment is the key for the best blood wards. All we have to do is apply the blood and perform the hand signs to set it in place." He doubted he would let Naruto watch that part. The hand signs to rewrite these particular wards were known only by his immediate family. He would settle on a new combination for the new ward and teach that to Naruto, just in case he needed to reset it on his own someday. "There isn't anything we can do here for now. Let's get back to the apartment."

"Wait," Naruto blurted. He took his hand off the door and looked at the place where the shield had been. "What would happen if someone tried to get in here? Or to disable these wards? Does that trigger some sort of trap?"

"Not without anyone in residence. I'm sure your village has seal breakers powerful enough to get in there if they really wanted to. That would destroy the wall, the road, and those houses there. But it would break the shield. Then the moment they crossed the first wards the interior ones would trigger and another shield would set up." Sasuke smirked as Naruto saw where he was going with this. "Breaking that one would destroy the surrounding yard and do some more damage to everything nearby. Then they would trigger the final shield. We have three at home. There might be four or five here, if my parents were more concerned with safety here than they are these days. If the final shield is broken with no one inside, it will destroy what's left of the place. If someone was inside, they would be transported to safety." He already knew the the final one here would be around Itachi's bedroom, and possibly his own if they'd had time to alter the original wards after his birth. It had probably been set up to transport the occupants to the shrine's hidden area. He wouldn't be able to do that part himself until he learned the teleporation jutsu. He would also have to talk to Naruto about which places he considered the safest in this village. Since they didn't have any children that needed that sort of protection it wasn't an urgent concern.

"So that's why all the blood? Because it's multiple shields rather than just one..."

"Exactly. And once it's set up it will potentially last forever. Consider it an investment. A little blood now for wards that require no maintenance and aren't likely to be challenged unless someone with far too much time on their hands wants in there and isn't afraid of attracting a great deal of attention to their attempts."

Naruto grumbled and tried to act as if he wasn't starting to like the idea. "If it's that good then maybe I won't have to bring that scroll from my room."

"No, you should still have that set up. It's linked to Kyuubi's chakra rather than your blood. That's a completely different sort of protection. Having multiple layers and types is always better than just one." He preferred the blood wards because he was used to them and they were an Uchiha tradition. Naruto's chakra seal had been set up by his father, and possibly Jiraiya, and was designed specifically for him as a demon carrier.

"My dad will probably like that you said that," Naruto admitted. "He's the same way. Any time he or Jiraiya come across a new seal they're sticking it on me. I'm surprised my seal doesn't look like a quilt at this point."

"I have never seen your seal." Which was strange, considering he had seen Naruto naked from multiple angles. "Is it hidden?"

"Oh. Yeah, it only shows up when I'm accessing Kyuubi's chakra. It's around my navel. I'll show you when we get back to the apartment. Are you sure you want to go back now, though? If we hop on that roof we can get a peek at the backyard. There's a tiny pond back there. It was slimy and gross the last time I looked, but I bet it will clean up really nice."

"We can check that out first." A back yard with a built-in water source? The house probably had a dojo, too. This was going to be quite a step up from Naruto's cramped apartment. Even if that vine Naruto had pointed out had cracked the window frame and exposed parts of the house to the elements it would still be a private retreat with that wall. Not to mention the larger wall that separated this area from the rest of the village. The clan might have resented being isolated that way, but it suited Sasuke just fine. One glimpse into the back yard and he was sure of it. "Very nice."

"Right?" Naruto grinned. "I knew you'd like that. No more practicing in the bathtub."

"That was probably a koi pond. It would be a shame to clean it up just to make a practice area out of it."

"But...?"

"But," Sasuke admitted, "that is exactly what I would do with it. Any objections?"

"Nope!"

Maybe Naruto's toads would get some use out of it as well. Gamakichi claimed his bumpy skin should have made it obvious he wasn't the slimy frog sort, but he had also said Naruto had a couple of those he could summon if Sasuke wanted someone who didn't mind being submerged. He didn't actually want to incorporate Naruto's summons into his own training, but if he was left with one here that pond would at least give him something to do with the creature. He just hoped they didn't drop any eggs in there. The last thing he wanted was a noisy frog pond in the backyard. He was liable to introduce some snakes if it came to that, and he could already imagine the sort of war that would break out if he did such a thing. That might be interesting, though. It was something to think about.

"Let's go back," said Sasuke. "If that friend of yours really will take left overs, then I have a lot of cooking to do."

"You still want to do that?"

"Yes." He raised an eyebrow. "You don't?"

"I don't know," Naruto admitted. "I want to and I don't want to. This could go so wrong. But then maybe it'll be okay and that makes me want to because it really would save a lot of time. But if it goes wrong there's no going back from that, especially with you. They could be all awkward and give you the wrong impression. Or maybe they'll try too hard and you'll hate them instantly. I already know I'll try too hard and you're bound to hate that. I just don't know if it's worth the risk."

"They're your friends. I'll tolerate them whether I like or hate them. I won't decide how I feel about them based on a first meeting, whether it's awkward or not. What are you so afraid of?"

Naruto folded his arms over his chest and glowered at him. "Kakashi."

Sasuke winced and looked away. Naruto had a very good point. He sighed and folded his own arms over his chest. "I don't like that man."

"I know," said Naruto. "Everyone who has seen you with him knows. It's pretty funny, actually. At least, Sakura thinks it's funny. Iruka, too. And my dad loves it because Kakashi honestly doesn't know what he did to make you hate him so much. It wouldn't really be a problem since Kakashi can handle not being liked. Sometimes he deserves it, anyway. But you're going to have to interact with him because he's the only one with the sharingan and lightning and the sort of ninjutsu that can help you take your techniques up a notch. That would be a lot easier if you didn't-"

"He uses lightning?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed and a slow smirk spread across his face. Sasuke glared back at him.

"Why, yes," Naruto drawled. "Yes, he does."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "At least that gives me a reason to think he might be useful enough to learn to tolerate. Assuming he can be compelled to actually do something besides stand and taunt."

"Just drown him again," Naruto grinned. "That messed him up good the first time. But this time I want to watch."

"He didn't show any sign of being 'messed up' in front of me. That was probably an act for your benefit, or for the Hokage's."

"No, no chance of that. If he played it cool around you, that was the act. With my dad? Real thing. And I got to see it, so there is no way I'll let him play cool with you if he tries that again. I bet he twitches something awful!"

Sasuke disliked the man. He had a reason to want to see him twitch. Naruto supposedly liked him, so what was his excuse? He frowned and redirected Naruto's attention. "So long as none of your friends scare me, mock me, and manhandle me all within the space of a few minutes, it's very unlikely I will view them the way I do Kakashi. So take me back to the apartment before I decide to make you help with the cooking."

"I can't cook," Naruto winced. Then he blinked. "Wait, when did Kakashi scare you? How? And what do you mean by manhandle? I swear if that bastard stuck his fingers up your butt I'll kill him!"

"What? Why the hell would he do that?" The man was an infuriating nuisance, but he hadn't struck him as a pervert.

"One thousand years of death."

Sasuke blinked at Naruto's absolutely sober expression. "What...?"

"It is one of the more horribly violating and painful techniques ever invented," Naruto told him. "If he ever even tries to use that on you, tell me. I'll take a page out of Sound's book and shove a kunai with an exploding tag up his ass."

"He did that technique to you?" And it involved fingers up the ass? "Does your father know about that?"

"Oh, sure. I got in trouble for using it on someone and my dad immediately lectured Kakashi for teaching it to me. He didn't even have to ask who I learned it from. It's a really horrible technique. I'd teach it to you, but I don't think you could pull it off. No offense, you're just not that sort."

Which was probably a compliment. Somehow. Maybe. He really didn't want to know. "Apartment," he said flatly. "Now, please."

As soon as they were back, Sasuke washed his hands. Naruto immediately started prying again.

"How did he scare you?"

"Grab the bag of tomatoes, wash them, and chop them up. Small pieces. You can put them in this bowl."

"And what did you mean by manhandle? If it wasn't the thousand years of death, what did he do?"

"Here, you can cut them on this. We need to get a cutting board."

"I'm not letting it go," Naruto warned "If you don't tell me yourself I'll have to go ask him. Iruka will probably be there so naturally I'll invite him to dinner, and that means I'll have to invite Kakashi, too. Do you really want that? Eh? Dinner with Kakashi?"

"Iruka is welcome to come. If you consider Kakashi one of your friends, feel free to invite him, too."

"Are you serious? Was it that bad? So bad you'd rather have him here than tell me? What the hell did he do to you?"

"When you're done with that, you can dice these up, too. Onions make my eyes water."

"Onions make everyone's eyes water. What are the onions for? I don't like onions!"

"Just shut up, finish the tomatoes, dice those, and maybe I'll consider answering your questions. I have a lot to do and you're annoying me. Make yourself useful. And send out your clones. This shouldn't take more than an hour or two."

"I knew this dinner thing was a bad idea," Naruto muttered.

.-.  
TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Naruto bolted from the kitchen at the first knock. Sasuke wasn't surprised to hear Sakura's voice. The clones had barely gone out. She must have dropped everything in order to get here so fast. That showed just how concerned Naruto's friends must be about him. Sasuke had to wonder how hard Naruto had worked to keep them at bay this long. Another female voice spoke up. Sasuke looked over to see a blonde girl enter just behind Sakura, followed by a young man who was so large he nearly filled the doorway. That had to be the one whose family used food pills. No normal shinobi would let himself get that big. Chouji, Naruto had called him. A member of the Akimichi clan, which wasn't really a clan according to Naruto. The young man was dressed rather formally for someone who wasn't part of a clan, with a red 'food' kanji emblazoned on the front of his gray chest plate.

"Are you crying? What happened?" the blonde girl demanded.

"He made me cut onions," Naruto whined. He scrubbed his hands over his teary eyes and winced when that just made them burn more.

Sasuke rolled his own eyes and turned back to the skillet. He had told Naruto to wash his hands as soon as he finished with the onions. Instead Naruto had rubbed the onion juice all over his face and used his bleary eyes as an excuse to not help any more. The onion juice was probably coated on the doorknob now, too.

"I don't even like onions!" Naruto added.

"Unless they're in ramen," Sakura scoffed.

"I don't eat onions in my ramen!"

"You do, too. They're green and long and get diced into those little green curls that are in every bowl Ichiraku serves."

"Oh. Well these are round and white and awful. He puts them in rice. Who puts onions in rice?"

"Ichiraku does."

"They do not!"

"You don't even know what you're eating when you order from there. And you call yourself their biggest fan."

"I don't go there for onions - I mean rice. I go there for ramen!"

"They put rice in the ramen."

"They do not!"

Sakura laughed. "You wouldn't notice if they did."

"I would, too!"

Sasuke wondered what age Naruto had regressed to. He could imagine the little blonde boy in that pregenin photo sounding the way Naruto sounded right now. Seven? Ten? There had been a blonde girl in that photo as well, and a brown haired boy with a round face who might be their third guest. Maybe they brought out the child in Naruto because they had been children together. Or maybe Naruto was already trying too hard and this was the result. Sasuke turned just as they trooped into the kitchen, so he saw the way the blonde girl flinched at first sight of him.

"You liar," she hissed at Sakura.

Sakura laughed.

"What?" demanded Naruto. "What's so funny?"

The brown haired man stepped around them and lifted his hands. He was holding four plastic packages that appeared to contain flat brown loafs of some sort. "I brought dessert," he said to Sasuke.

He hadn't even considered dessert. He didn't care much for sweets and Naruto hadn't complained about the lack since he had moved in with him. Then again, Naruto hadn't complained about anything Sasuke had cooked for them. Even the onion complaints were new. Sasuke suspected Naruto wouldn't be complaining about those now if he weren't nervous about his friends coming. It made him wonder what else he had been feeding Naruto that Naruto didn't like. "Thank you," he said to Chouji. "You can set it..." He looked at the cluttered counter and winced. Even if they hadn't been early, the kitchen was too small for all the groceries he had been trying to make edible. "Put it anywhere you can find a spot."

"The livingroom," Naruto spoke up eagerly. "We can have them as appetizers!"

"No," said Sasuke.

Naruto's face pinched and for a moment he looked ready to argue. Then he glanced at the two girls, who were watching closely, and deflated. "But..."

"If you can't wait for the rest of your friends to arrive, then you can eat some of the salad fixings."

"Raw vegetables? Are you crazy?"

"Naruto," said Sakura, "you haven't even introduced Ino and Chouji."

"Oh, yeah!"

Sasuke quickly found himself alone in the kitchen with Chouji, who had volunteered to cook up any meat he had on hand. The blonde girl, Yamanaka Ino, had left to get a tea kettle upon learning that Naruto didn't own one. She had hesitated long enough to warn Sasuke that Chouji would eat two-thirds of any meat he cooked if he wasn't watched carefully. Chouji continued to deny that accusation until Sasuke cut him off. "You're welcome to eat as much as you want so long as there is enough left for anyone else who might show up."

"Really?" Chouji's eyes lit up.

"Yes. It won't last much longer." Sasuke waved him at the refrigerator, and then made as much room as he could for the things Chouji pulled out. "I think that's bad," he warned him, when he grabbed the block of tofu from the bottom. "It smells sour."

"It is," Chouji sighed, after taking a sniff himself. "What a shame." He squatted down and peeked into the crisper. "Your mushrooms are gone, too. This is awful."

"I know."

"This celery is salvageable, though! When it gets rubbery like this you can still fry it up if you dice it thin enough. That cabbage is scary, but the inside might still be edible."

Sasuke was impressed. Chouji was even more against waste than he was. "It's not worth messing with. The only reason it's still in the refrigerator is because Naruto only gets his trash picked up once a week."

"You can't throw it away!" Chouji exclaimed. "Rotten produce makes great fertilizer for gardens. I'll take it home with me if you don't have a compost bin."

"I told you so," Naruto called from the livingroom. "Chouji will take anything food related."

"Food is life," Chouji said stoutly. "Those who don't respect that starve."

"Indeed," Sasuke drawled. A bit over the top, but not wrong. It was a wonder Naruto wasn't scrawny and malnourished from surviving on ramen for so long.

He took the celery and diced it up at the table where he had a good view of the livingroom. Sakura had managed to settle Naruto down on the couch where he was out of the way. But his legs were bouncing with nervous energy, and he kept looking past her to the door. When he caught Sasuke watching him, his face took on that wary hopeful look again. The meek housewife was back. That was especially irritating considering Sasuke was the one in the kitchen trying to cook for him and his friends. This was such a strange situation. He was hosting a dinner in which some people would be eating off paper plates while sitting on the floor if too many guests arrived. He hadn't even considered Naruto's lack of a tea kettle. He had been heating cups of water in the microwave and using teabags for his own tea since Naruto didn't drink it unless it was black tea and had sugar added to it.

His mother would be horrified. He had never been allowed to attend the formal dinners his parents had hosted, but he had seen the preparation that had gone into those. The small bowl of diced carrots sitting on the table attested to that. It was an odd thing he had done without thinking about it because his parents had always done it. His mother claimed it was because 'some people' disliked their carrots cooked. The way she said it had told him there was one guest in particular who had that quirk. But those raw carrots were always untouched the next day, making him wonder if that picky guest hadn't come or if he had lied about disliking 'cooked' carrots to hide the fact that he disliked all carrots. Sasuke didn't like them raw. Naruto certainly didn't. Yet he had set some aside while making the stir fry just in case. It was an odd thing to have done for what was essentially an indoor picnic. Maybe someone would eat them with the salad stuff. Naruto had bought three types of dressing despite his dislike of raw vegetables. So far none of them had been opened since Sasuke preferred his salads with a bit of vinegar and diced peppers. The dressings could go home with Chouji. Next time he and Naruto shopped for food he would make sure they got nothing that wasn't going to be eaten.

The boy from the lake was the next to arrive, with his dog but without the Hyuuga girl. The two flared their nostrils, exchanged a look, and then the boy rounded on Naruto. "I thought you said he couldn't cook."

Naruto went bright red. Sasuke suffered a strange mixture of annoyance and amusement. That answered the question of how much he had been feeding Naruto that Naruto hadn't liked. Probably everything. But Naruto had eaten it without complaint, so he had no one to blame but himself. Even Sasuke had disliked some of the things he had cooked. At least what he did cook was edible and not ramen.

"Chouji is cooking the meat," Sasuke informed the boy. And Chouji was actually using some of the spices Naruto had bought. Sasuke had been watching closely enough to note a few he would be trying out himself in the future.

"What? He won't leave any for the rest of us!"

"That's not true," Chouji complained, with a quick glare over his shoulder. The bulge in his left cheek was evidence that he had been feeding as he cooked, but so far he had only eaten half rather than the two-thirds Ino had predicted.

There wouldn't be much left over, but there should be enough to go around so long as the dog didn't need to be fed. Sasuke watched the dog as it followed its owner into the kitchen. Its white fur was visibly clean, and it didn't smell, but it was still a dog. He was relieved when it sat down a few feet from the table. It was tall enough it might have panted right on the food had it come closer. The dog closed its mouth and lifted its head as if it were returning his stare, despite its eyes appearing to be closed. He wondered again just how intelligent it was. He had never seen a dog that size that wasn't a summon.

"That's Akamaru," the boy said on his way past. "Don't worry, he already ate. I'm Inuzuka Kiba. Nice to meet you." Then he had reached Chouji and was squeezing his way in beside him. "Is that piece done? I want that one."

"That one's mine!"

"You're still chewing a piece. I can tell. Give me that one."

"No! Don't grab at the food! You haven't washed your hands!"

"Yeah, the second I wash them you'll have that piece in your mouth. I know better."

"Don't-"

"Hah! Mmh!"

"How could you do that? Get out of my kitchen!"

"This is Naruto's kitchen," Sasuke reminded them. Chouji had the grace to look embarrassed. Kiba grinned. Sasuke wondered if he was just imagining the challenge he read in that grin. For all he knew Kiba had spent more time in this kitchen than he had. At least the boy's dog was well behaved. He went to the sink and washed his hands. The strips of chicken Chouji was cooking did smell good, like red pepper and something herby. But there was an entire plate of beef that he had already cooked up which had smelled like barbecue when he was frying it. Kiba should have gone for that instead of stealing food out of the skillet. Maybe he had done it to get a rise out of Chouji.

"Sorry, Sasuke," said Chouji.

Sasuke shook his head at him. Since Chouji was cooking it might as well be his kitchen. He wasn't the one barging in like he owned the place. And stealing food. As if there wasn't plenty. "There's enough here for people to eat if you want to take a break after that batch. You can take the rest home with you. There's no need for you to cook it all while you're here."

"Are you kidding?" Kiba demanded. "When Chouji cooks you let him cook. You just have to grab as much as you can before he eats it all. One thing the Akimichi clan knows, it's how to cook food. Especially meat. This guy practically lives at the barbecue place. He knows his meat."

Chouji frowned as if he didn't know whether that was a compliment or an insult. He must have decided it was a compliment because he smiled and waved Sasuke off. "I'd rather cook it now than later. You can take that batch to the table, though. It's too close. Makes me want to eat it." He flipped a few strips of the chicken, one of which ended up in his mouth. Kiba immediately tried and failed to snatch another piece out of the skillet.

Sasuke took the plate, feeling like he was wasting his breath even as he spoke. "If you want to eat, eat something off the table. There's plenty."

"Only because Chouji's busy at the stove," Kiba scoffed. "The second he's done here, that'll be gone. I know how this works."

Rather sure of himself. Sasuke didn't like it one bit. He left the food on the table, gave one look over the spread, and went into the livingroom. Sakura was giving him a sympathetic smile. Naruto was still red faced, sitting suspiciously still and quiet and not looking at him. It took a moment for Sasuke to remember why. As if he cared that Naruto's clone had warned their guests about his lack of cooking skills. Better for them to be pleasantly surprised by Chouji's contribution than for them to come expecting too much. "You two might as well get something to eat. I'm not sure how long the meat will last with those two fighting over it. The rest is done."

Naruto's head popped up. "But everyone isn't here yet!"

"Who else are you expecting?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know," Naruto admitted. "My last clone hasn't expelled yet. If he finds Lee he might get the whole team." He hopped off the couch and passed Sasuke without quite looking at him. "Hey, Kiba. What about Hinata? And Shino?"

"Hinata went to see her sister. A clone wouldn't make it two feet past their gate. Shino might be in the village, but good luck finding him. He'll hold a grudge over that. Expect him to pop up all scary and sulking as soon as he finds out he wasn't invited."

"I can't invite him if I can't find him," Naruto complained.

"Right? He'll still sulk."

"I hate it when he does that. It's creepy."

"Tell me about it."

Sakura shook her head at Sasuke. "Ino should be back soon. She'll be upset if she went to fetch her tea tray and doesn't get to use it."

"She's bringing a tray?" asked Sasuke. She had only commented on the lack of a proper kettle. Had this struck her as a formal setting? Surely not. There was a dog in the kitchen. It was lying down now and appeared to be asleep, but it was still in the kitchen.

"It's new," Sakura smiled. "She got it for her birthday. She loves any chance to show it off. It really is very pretty. Her family usually has sons, so she is the first female in generations to inherit it without having married into the clan. She'll be bringing her own tea, too. She makes it out of flowers and herbs, so it's an odd flavor. Nice and strong, though, if you like that sort of thing."

Sasuke looked into the kitchen. Despite the protests, Naruto was filling up a plate with rice and meat and not a speck of the raw vegetables. That right there was why Sasuke had made it a point to cook vegetables in with the rice, including those onions Naruto claimed to hate so much. Since Naruto was occupied, Sasuke sat down on the couch and took advantage of his distraction. "Naruto said the only family he considered a 'real clan' was the Hyuuga clan. Are all of his friends members of clans?"

"He was probably talking about the noble clans. There used to be four, including the Uchiha clan. Now there are three. Hinata and Neji are from the Hyuuga clan. Shino is from the Aburame clan. And Chouji is from the Akimichi clan. Those three have heads with as much sway as the elders. The rest of the clans have unique skills passed within the families, but they aren't nobles. Tenten, Lee, and I are the only ones who aren't members of clans." She gave a smile that was somehow both self-depreciating and proud at the same time. "My parents are civilians. If Tsunade-same hadn't taken me on as her apprentice I never would have been able to keep up with the rest of them. The only thing I naturally excelled at was written tests and chakra control. But those are just the skills a medic needs, so I went into the perfect field."

"Naruto said you can break bones as easily as you can heal them." He didn't bother to hide how skeptical he was of that claim. She, on the other hand, did a good job hiding how much his tone annoyed her. Only the slight narrowing of her eyes gave it away. "Is that some form of taijutsu like Lee uses?" The narrow eyes widened and suddenly she was gaping at him. Then she was beaming with pleasure. He didn't know what to make of it.

"It isn't at all," Sakura laughed. "And yet, it sort of is. I never thought about it before, but it is similar. He opens chakra gates to enhance his abilities and I conserve and concentrate chakra to enhance mine. That's all we have in common, though. Lee is a genius when it comes to effort. Or a freak of nature, depending on how you look at it. The training he puts himself through..." She shook her head, though she was still glowing. Because he had compared her to Lee? He hadn't really. He had simply asked if they were similar. "We're exact opposites when it comes to taijutsu. And chakra control. My taijutsu is average at best, but the hits I do make are deadly because of how well I control and direct my chakra. His chakra is completely uncontrolled and undirected, but he has trained his body so well that his taijutsu makes the most of any boost he gets. "

That didn't explain how Lee could move so well on water. With enough practice he could have learned to do so instinctively, but he had to have learned it from scratch at some point. That must have taken a lot of control. He would have to ask Lee directly. He wondered if Lee would be as open about his techniques as Sakura was. Sasuke didn't know what she meant about 'gates' and 'concentrating' chakra, so she wasn't giving away any secrets. It was still strange how willing she was to talk about what she could do. Naruto was like that, but Naruto had promised to train him so that was a given. He wasn't sure what Sakura's motivation was. Maybe she saw his interest as a sign that he might take her up on that challenge she had issued. He had no intention of doing that. He wouldn't mind seeing her in action, though, if she could be conned into putting on a display. She did seem eager to show off what she could do.

"There goes my bunshin," Naruto said suddenly. He gulped down the food in his mouth and grinned. "Tenten is coming. The other two aren't because Lee got Neji dirty."

Kiba snorted.

Chouji looked over in surprise. "Lee must have improved a lot to get Neji dirty."

Kiba sputtered and then he and Naruto burst into laughter. Cackling, in fact. Naruto was cackling. Even Sakura made a muffled noise, though her face was twisted in a pretense of disapproval. Sasuke thought about it before he could stop himself. Weird looking but happily exuberant Lee and that cold blank-faced jounin? Naruto would pay for putting that image into his head. In fact, he should make him pay for even joking about his so-called friends that way. Unless this was normal for them? Chouji obviously didn't get it, so at least one of them had some redeeming qualities.

"How did he manage it?" asked Chouji.

"Good question," Naruto laughed. "We have to make Tenten spill when she gets here. All she would say is that Lee got him royally splattered and Neji was not happy about it."

"Splattered, eh?" Kiba snorted again.

"Oh," said Chouji. "They must have been sparring somewhere muddy."

"Yeah," Kiba sighed, "I'm sure that's it. You take the fun out of everything, you know that? You've been spending way too much time with Shikamaru."

"It doesn't matter what he splattered him with," Naruto drawled. He managed to keep a straight face for five seconds before he cracked. "I bet it got in his hair. I'd have paid to see that."

"Pay Tenten enough, maybe she'll do a henge of it."

"No way," scoffed Naruto. "We'd have to get her drunk for that, and then she'd kill us the second she sobers up. Assuming Lee and Neji don't get to us first. No, we'll have to make do with imagining it."

"I have never seen Neji with his hair messed up," Chouji commented. "I can't imagine that."

"No one outside their team has seen his hair messed up," said Kiba. "That's the point."

"Oh."

Sasuke dropped his eyes before Naruto could remember his presence and catch him staring. So Gamakichi wasn't the only one who wanted to mess Neji's hair up. It was rather long. Naruto liked long hair. If Sasuke hadn't been sent to Konoha, would Naruto have turned his attentions to Neji? Would Neji have wanted him to? According to Naruto the two were close enough that Neji had felt comfortable warning him of what a bad match Sasuke would be for him. A horrible partner and a huge disappointment. Sasuke agreed with that. Naruto had far more in common with someone like Lee or Kiba than he did with him. But it was too late now. If someone was going to mess up Neji's hair it would have to be Lee. Which, apparently, Lee was already doing. That was so bizarre. Sasuke sighed at himself. Some of the irritation he felt was probably jealousy. Naruto behaved the same way with his friends as he had with him, teasing and confident and comfortable. Sasuke had expected that after watching him with Lee. Kiba irritated him a little, and the way Kiba seemed to have simply accepted his presence here without breaking stride was suspicious. Seeing Naruto joke around with Kiba didn't bother him, though, because that was just Naruto being Naruto. But he had seen himself in Neji. Still waiting to find out what his clan wanted from him? Yes, he had already picked Neji out as the one person in this village he might be able to relate to. He hadn't considered that Neji was one of Naruto's friends. Naruto's friends were apparently all strange in their own way. He and Neji were probably nothing alike at all. And Naruto wanted to mess up his hair. Sasuke wasn't sure he would be able to look at him now without thinking about that.

"Sasuke?"

Sakura's whisper caught him off guard. He hadn't even noticed that she had leaned closer to him. Had his irritation shown on his face? "What?"

"Would you like me to check your injury now?" Sakura asked quietly. "Naruto's bunshin said you were planning to go running in the morning. It won't take more than a minute for me to make sure that's safe. Unless you'd rather wait until everyone leaves?"

"Now is fine. We can do it in the bathroom." Better to get it done with before Ino and Lee's teammate arrived. That way he would still have the option of retiring early.

"What's up?" asked Naruto. "Where are you going?"

Now he was paying attention to him, Sasuke scoffed. He hoped this irritation settled quickly so he could go back to being an uncaring spectator. "To the bathroom."

"With Sakura-chan?" Naruto yelped. "What? Hey! You guys better not talk about me!"

Sakura sniffed at him. "We have far better things to discuss than you."

"What? What does that mean?" Naruto followed them a few feet into the hall, his plate balanced in one hand as he pointed his fork with the other. "Leave the door open. And no funny business!"

Sasuke sent him an exasperated look. As if Naruto hadn't been the one to tell his clone to ask Sakura to look at his injury. Was he trying to make Chouji and Kiba think he didn't trust him alone with Sakura? A glance found Sakura smiling in a way that said it was just the opposite. She was the one Naruto didn't trust. He sighed and entered the bathroom. He wasn't surprised when Sakura quickly joined him and shut the door behind her. He was surprised that Naruto didn't try to follow.

"I can't help teasing him," Sakura grinned. "He makes it too easy."

He really did. Sasuke lifted his shirt and used the sharingan to watch the way she manipulated her chakra to test out the place where the wound had been.

"No pain at all?" she asked.

"Only if I put a lot of pressure directly on it. Then there's a twinge."

"Then don't do that," she said sharply. She let out a huff. "Tsunade-sama did a very good job on you. She always does. You should be fine to move around so long as you're careful to not put pressure on it. Especially the back." She drew a circle around the place where the sword had exited his back, and Sasuke twisted around to see it. "This whole area is still mending. One heavy blow here and you'll risk internal bleeding and another hospital stay. Give it two more days. Three if you can manage it."

"Otherwise it's fine?"

"For running and exercising and using chakra. But no sparring." She put her hands on her hips and gave him a narrow eyed glare. "I mean it. One hit, even a glancing one, and you could end up right back where you started. You're not the easy patient I thought you'd be, so it's best to avoid that. Don't you agree?"

"Yes," Sasuke said flatly. "I have no intention of damaging myself further."

Sakura continued to glare at him for a moment, as if trying to spot that for a lie. Then she dropped her arms, sat down on the edge of the tub, and smiled. "So, now that it's just the two of us, do you want to hear about the time Naruto spewed all over my cadaver?"

Sasuke blinked. This didn't sound like an appropriate topic to be discussing before dinner. But he was still a little irritated with Naruto. And he had been wondering about the rest of that story. "Sure."

"It was epic," Sakura beamed. "And absolutely disgusting!"

And humiliating, no doubt. Sasuke was all ears.

Instead of Naruto, it was Ino who burst into the bathroom and interrupted the story-telling. Sasuke was both relieved and annoyed. Sakura had taken malicious pleasure in describing in detail the parts of the cadaver she had been trying to reattach, how they had been detached in the first place, and what the interior of those parts had looked like covered in Naruto's chunky vomit. He had to actually work to avoid giving her the reactions she was obviously aiming for. The other stories weren't as gruesome and disgusting, but it was hard to keep a straight face during them. He wasn't amused. He knew he was supposed to find them funny, but he couldn't fathom anyone doing such ridiculous things. He just couldn't wrap his head around a shinobi, even a young one, being so...clumsy and ridiculous. He was embarrassed for Naruto, irritated that Sakura was telling him things Naruto clearly didn't want him to know, and yet he couldn't bring himself to stop her because this was the Naruto everyone here knew. This was the Naruto these friends of his had grown up with, and the 'brat' the older people continued to picture despite how much he might have matured since then. If he had matured. If Naruto honestly thought that trick Kakashi had pulled on him was a legitimate technique then he was still awfully clueless. That didn't bode well.

"What are you doing?" Ino demanded of Sakura. "I can't believe you!"

Sakura gave her a surprised and innocent look that probably didn't fool her for a minute. "I was just telling Sasuke about how Naruto farted in Kiba's face that time and almost killed him."

Ino gaped for a moment, and then shut the door behind her. "Did you tell him about that first bell test?"

"Of course! A thousand years of death. And he flew six yards!"

And still didn't know, years later, that Kakashi had merely been messing with him. Sasuke shifted irritably. It was bad enough letting Sakura gossip to him without another of Naruto's friends knowing about it, and possibly helping. Sure enough, Ino looked eager to contribute to the ruination of whatever image Naruto might have had.

"What about milk?" asked Ino. "Did you tell him about the time he drank that-"

The door was wrenched open so suddenly Ino stumbled back into a red-faced Naruto. Sasuke was again relieved, and annoyed that he needed Naruto to save him from this temptation. He didn't like gossip. Did he? He didn't want to like it, at any rate.

"No," Naruto said to the girls. "Sakura was one thing. She had to check his injury, and maybe it took so long because she was teaching him some medical jutsu or something. I don't believe that," he scowled at an innocent looking Sakura, "but you could argue it. Ino, though? No. Absolutely not. I refuse to have both of you in here with him. Out! And you," he scowled at Sasuke, "you should know better than to drop your guard just because they're girls. Kunoichi are scary and not to be trusted. Especially these two!"

"What?" Ino scowled.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Naruto..."

"See?" Naruto said to Sasuke. He threw his arms up. "She's going to hit me now. And it's all your fault!"

"I'll take full responsibility," Sasuke sighed. He didn't roll his eyes, but he wanted to. Sakura was, indeed, cracking her knuckles. He wondered if there were more stories she hadn't offered that involved her beating up on Naruto each time he pulled one of those ridiculous stunts of his. Maybe she was the one who had given Naruto the idea that it was okay to hit him when he annoyed him and that if he couldn't dodge a blow then he deserved it. Sasuke didn't want to get into that habit. He certainly wasn't going to let someone else do it in front of him. He slipped between the girls so Naruto was forced to back up into the hallway. "There won't be any violence at this gathering."

Sakura scowled at that. He couldn't tell if she was irritated he had ruined her fun, or insulted at the thought that he might actually believe she would have hit Naruto. He wasn't sure if she really would have hit him or not. He still hadn't figured out her relationship with Naruto. If she had hit him, it probably wouldn't have been very hard. Maybe she showed her 'affection' by hitting him the way Iruka claimed others here showed it by insulting each other. From the way Sakura had told her stories, she obviously found him funny and frustrating and endearing all at the same time. Very easy to like? Because he grew on people like a fungus. That description had sounded so bizarre and unflattering. Now he could see how appropriate it was. Naruto was already growing on him. It was rather disturbing when he thought about it. Best not to think about it, then.

He was introduced to Lee's teammate, a girl named Tenten with dark hair confined in two buns who seemed more interested in watching everything than in contributing anything. Then Ino served tea to him, the girls, and Chouji. Tenten didn't mention the mishap her teammates had gotten into and no one asked. The others must have already questioned her and gotten nothing because Naruto and Kiba were sending her pouting and resentful looks from where they sat in the kitchen. The tea was strange but strong. Ino did her best to serve it formally, as if the setting wasn't so casual she was kneeling on the floor across from three people on a couch, Chouji on the floor to the side of the low table, and two pouting teenagers watching on from the actual kitchen table. Chouji was also sitting rigidly as if this were a formal occasion. Sasuke regretted not suggesting they move the couch back so they could all sit on the floor. That, at least, would have made it easier to play along. It was awkward and he felt rather sorry for Ino. Once that was out of the way, they headed for the food.

There was far less left than he had expected. Chouji? Naruto was a bottomless pit, but he wouldn't have touched the raw stuff. Sakura and Ino bickered over the remaining lettuce and tomatoes, while Tenten went straight for the remaining beef. Sasuke stood back, planning to pick at whatever remained after everyone finished. He had to move aside when Chouji rushed over to get the last piece of the beef before Tenten could. That was when he noticed Akamaru had a plate on the floor in front of him. There wasn't much on it, just a sprinkling of lettuce and the diced carrots. Who had given the dog carrots? And why? He stared until the dog noticed, gave him a head-tilt, and then took a dainty bite of the rabbit food. He watched those large jaws grind away for a long while before Akamaru swallowed and gave him another head-tilt. Then he laughed.

Naruto whipped around so fast he choked on a mouthful of what was probably his fourth plate of rice and meat. Kiba promptly whacked him on the back with more force than was necessary. That made him choke some more before he managed to swallow. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Sasuke said. "I've just never seen a dog eat vegetables." Naruto could learn a thing or two from that dog. So could he. If a dog could force itself to eat raw carrots he really had no excuse for avoiding them so much. It wasn't often he found himself shown up by a dog.

"They're good for him," said Kiba. "He knows they are. Would be better if the carrots had been whole, though. Make sure you chew really good," he said to Akamaru.

The dog huffed and took another tiny bite before grinding away on it. Sasuke didn't laugh this time, but only because Naruto was watching him. Between the carrots and that scene at the lake he was starting to like this dog. He grabbed a plate and started filling it with the things no one was fighting over. His attention was focused on Kiba, though. The boy's clan raised nindogs. Was Kiba an alpha sort? Did he think in those terms? If he considered his behavior in light of that, it make a lot more sense. Kiba seemed to be working around him, even ignoring his presence, because he was the confrontational sort and a clash would force Naruto to take sides. Kiba couldn't know that Sasuke had no intention of clashing with any of them. If one of them voiced an objection to his intrusion in Naruto's life, he would be glad to have that out in the open. He would also concede to them. Disappearing any time one of Naruto's friends showed up would suit him just fine. Naruto was the one who wanted him to 'like' and get along with them.

Had Naruto put the same pressure on his friends, hoping they would 'like' him rather than simply tolerating him? Probably. That would explain why this impromptu gathering was going so well. He had expected at least some glares, if only when Naruto wasn't looking. And not one of them had mentioned what had brought him to their village in the first place. Naruto had to be responsible for that. It would be interesting to see how long that lasted.

Dessert. It lasted until dessert.

They were all gathered in the livingroom. Naruto and the girls were on the couch while Sasuke and Kiba sat across the short table from them and Chouji was off to the side again. Ino had served an even stronger tea, thankfully with less awkward formality this time. Sasuke had eaten a tiny sliver of the heavy cake and disliked it. Although not as sweet as he had feared, it had a thick consistency and a slightly pithy aftertaste. Ino was the only other person who avoided it. The others split three of the cakes, leaving the fourth for Chouji. They talked casually about things Sasuke couldn't follow, such as the 'investigation' that had kept Ino and Chouji's other teammate too busy to come by, someone with the unfortunate name of Konohamaru and the 'cat trouble' he kept having, and whether or not Naruto was going to finally get 'down to business' or give up and do the 'toad thing' like 'they' wanted him to. That was when Kiba turned away from a grimacing and deflecting Naruto and scowled at Sasuke.

"Have you even tried the sharingan on Kyuubi yet?" asked Kiba.

"We're not talking about that!" Naruto blurted. "Not tonight."

"Why not?" asked Tenten. "It's what everyone wants to know. If I don't find out tonight, Lee is going to ask him tomorrow."

Naruto gaped at her. "Why would he-"

"Neji told him to," she smiled.

"Shikamaru says they can't," Ino told her. "They're not allowed to do any experimenting without supervision because they blew up the lake." She shook her head at Naruto. "Did your dad really forbid you from using the rasengan? That's the only technique you know."

"That and bunshin," Sakura sighed. "But they've been sparring and he passed Kakashi's bell test with nothing but genjutsu. There's no reason to think he wouldn't be at least as good as Jiraiya-sama when it comes to-"

Naruto burst. "Stop! I haven't even talked to him about that yet!"

"Why the hell not?" demanded Kiba.

"Because!" Naruto snapped. "That isn't important right now."

Judging by their expressions they all disagreed with that. Naruto's arms were folded over his chest and he was doing a very good job of avoiding Sasuke's eyes. He looked angry, but also very uncomfortable. He should be uncomfortable. Sasuke was certainly uncomfortable having this conversation bounce around him when he was clearly at the center of it. Naruto hadn't talked to him about this yet. But Naruto had obviously talked to his friends about it quite a bit. What had happened to Naruto not wanting to keep him in the dark?

Sasuke sighed and answered Kiba's original question. "I have been forbidden from using genjutsu on Naruto."

"I told you so," Ino huffed.

"For how long?" asked Kiba. "Are you guys going to have to leave the village when you start that training?"

"I have no idea." He didn't even know what training Kiba was referring to.

"Sasuke's training comes first," said Naruto. He finally looked at Sasuke. His eyes were pleading and apologetic, but his expression was pure stubbornness. "I warned you. They're all excited about you helping me with my training. But yours comes first, I promise."

Tenten wrinkled her nose at Sasuke. "Are you really a genin? And you hope to keep up with Lee tomorrow?"

Ino turned to her. "What's he doing with Lee?"

Tenten grinned. "Running."

Ino winced.

Naruto scowled at them. "He's only a genin because he never took the chunin exam. He passed Kakashi's bell test without even trying. You think a genin could do that?"

"If he was an Uchiha and had the eyes for it," Kiba shrugged. "What kind of illusion did you use?" he asked Sasuke. "Our teacher is an expert at genjutsu, but when she tried it on Itachi he turned it around on her. Are you as good as he is?"

"What I used on Kakashi was nothing compared to what Itachi can do," said Sasuke. He hid his surprise. Kiba's teacher was one of the three people Itachi had attacked? And she had tried to use genjutsu on him? That was embarrassing. She must not have realized who he was. Or maybe it wasn't common knowledge that genjutsu didn't work on someone with the sharingan unless it was performed by someone with an even stronger sharingan. Kiba didn't appear to be holding a grudge against him for what Itachi had done. Kiba struck him as too straight-forward to hide that sort of resentment.

"He's being modest," Naruto bragged. "He had Kakashi-sensei all messed up. And you know my dad wouldn't have forbidden him from using genjutsu on me if he didn't think it was strong enough to help me with my training. He just doesn't want us doing it without supervision. He has someone in mind for that. Kakashi's friend," he told Sasuke, "the one with wood release. Supposedly he'll be able to shut me down if things get out of hand. But that's for later. We probably will have to leave the village for that and Dad doesn't want us going anywhere right now."

"Will you be sent with a second team?" asked Kiba.

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged. "Dad has been really vague about it. So it's not just me putting it off. There's no point talking about it when we're not allowed to do anything, and we don't even know where we'll be when we do get to try." He gave Sasuke another wary and apologetic look. "That's why I'm just focused on things we can do right now."

As if Naruto's reluctance to talk about his demon had nothing to do with it. Sasuke was more curious than ever now. What exactly did they think his sharingan would be able to do to Kyuubi? And how could that help Naruto's training? Iruka had said there was no chance of his sharingan releasing Kyuubi, but that there was a good chance of it affecting him. Affecting him how? Was that the reason Naruto's father blamed the demon for Naruto's fixation on him? Sasuke could think of few reasons the demon might want Naruto in close contact with someone who had eyes capable of 'affecting' him, and none of them were good. It was no wonder his father didn't want them experimenting on their own.

"What sort of training is Naruto helping you with?" Chouji asked Sasuke. "He doesn't do much aside from using bunshin."

"Hey!" Naruto yelped.

"Taijutsu for the moment," said Sasuke. "His bunshin are useful for that."

Tenten scoffed. "You'd be better off training with Lee. Naruto's taijutsu isn't anything to brag about."

"You're one to talk," Naruto scowled at her. "Without your weapon scrolls you can't fight at all!"

"Says the guy with maybe three weapons in his entire arsenal," she snorted.

"I offered to spar with him," Sakura spoke up, her eyes glinting at Sasuke, "but I think he's afraid of being beaten by a girl."

"Really?" Tenten grinned. "How interesting."

"No," Naruto snapped, glaring at both of them. "I'm the one who won't let him spar with you," he told Sakura. "Not without some strict rules. And don't you get any ideas, either," he scowled at Tenten. "He's great with weapons and a lot faster than you. He doesn't just deflect them like Neji, either. He can catch them and send them right back at you. He'd kick your butt."

"Is that a fact?"

"Wait!" Sakura glared. "You can't challenge her on his behalf after refusing to let him fight me. Who is your teammate, eh?"

Naruto cringed and scooted to the edge of the couch away from her. "I wasn't challenging her. I was just saying!"

"That you think he could kick my butt," Tenten murmured. "That's what you said. How is that not a challenge?"

"It wasn't a challenge," Naruto insisted. "It's just an opinion. I'm biased, so of course I'm going to shoot my mouth off. You can't hold me to that."

"I think she can and should," Sakura drawled. "But I challenged him first, so I have dibs. Agreed?"

"I suppose," said Tenten.

"It doesn't matter who challenges whom unless I accept," Sasuke pointed out flatly. The two girls looked at him as if they had forgotten he was even there. Sakura was quick to scowl at him, but Tenten gave a little smile he didn't know what to make of. "I have no intention of fighting either of you."

Sakura bared her teeth. "Because we're kunoichi. That chauvenistic-"

Sasuke cut her off. "Because you're Naruto's friends. I wouldn't know how to fight you safely. It would be a waste of your time as well as mine. If you want to pick a fight, pick one with him."

"Fight Naruto?" Tenten stared at him for a moment, and then laughed. "Maybe against his bunshin, but even that would be pointless. Has he ever even thrown a punch at you?" she asked Sakura.

"Of course not," Sakura scoffed. "Naruto won't even spar with me, much less give me a real fight."

Then why the hell did she expect him to fight her? Sasuke stared hard at Naruto.

Naruto grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "I can't fight girls unless it's an enemy. I count myself lucky I never had to face one of them in the chunin exam. I don't know what I would have done."

"Lost miserably," Kiba snorted. "That's what you would have done."

"Probably," Naruto admitted.

"He won't even spar with Hinata," Kiba told Sasuke. "Her techniques aren't that different from Neji's and he fought with him. But the one time she got up the nerve to ask him, he ran away like a pansy."

"I did not!" Naruto grimaced. "I was just in a hurry, is all. Besides, she was doing that creepy darting-eyed whispery thing. I never know how to deal with her when she's like that. And I only fought Neji that time because he was being an asshole. Someone had to take him down a peg or two."

Tenten took exception to that. "You only defeated him because he didn't know sealing your chakra points wouldn't seal Kyuubi's chakra. If he had known that he would have taken you out in the first two minutes."

"But then he might not have talked to his uncle," Ino murmured. "So it's just well that Naruto beat him. Right?"

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that he only won because he got lucky. He does that a lot," Tenten told Sasuke. "He does stupid things and somehow gets lucky enough for it to work out in his favor. It's really annoying sometimes."

"Tell me about it," Kiba snorted. "Who wins by a fart?"

Naruto turned bright red. "At least I don't flip around pissing on my opponents!"

"He's a nindog," Kiba glared. "That's what they do!"

"It's still disgusting!"

"So is farting in a person's face!"

"I told Sasuke all about that," Sakura chirped.

"What? Sakura-chan!"

"Good," Kiba huffed. "Someone should warn him about your dirty tactics."

"I didn't do it on purpose! I was trying to concentrate my chakra. I just strained too hard!"

"So, what? I should be glad you didn't shit on me instead of farting?"

"That's disgusting," Ino exclaimed.

"Tell me about it!" said Kiba.

"Are you going to finish that?" Chouji asked Tenten. She handed him her plate without a word. "Thanks!"

Ino grimaced at him. "How can you eat when they're discussing Naruto's loose bowels?"

"They're not loose! I was just-" Naruto snapped his mouth shut. His face was bright red. "Why are we even talking about this? Sasuke doesn't need to hear any of this!"

"He's going to find out the truth about you eventually," Ino shrugged. "Better for him to hear it from your friends than your enemies. Though I agree discussing your bowels right after eating is hardly appropriate."

Sakura laughed. "Say bowels again. His head is about to explode."

"Don't say it again," Naruto cringed. "Subject change. Now!"

"The spoiled milk story?" Ino asked Sakura. "His bowels were practically exploding in that one."

"That sounds awful," Chouji winced.

Kiba frowned. "I haven't heard this one."

"Me, either," said Tenten.

Naruto shot to his feet. "That's it. Dinner is over. Goodnight, everyone. There's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out. Come on, Chouji. Let's get you loaded up with leftovers. Sasuke wants as much of it gone as possible. Right, Sasuke? I'll help you clean up. Lots of dishes to do." He caught Chouji's arm and hauled him up so he blocked him from sight when they went into the kitchen.

The dismissal was met with satisfied grins. Sasuke had never seen people show their 'affection' through humiliation and torture before. It was both amusing and effective. He kept that to himself, his expression bland as he helped Ino gather her tea cups.

"I'll wash them when I get home," she grinned. "I guess the milk story will have to wait till next time."

"Tell it to me now and I'll carry that tray for you," said Kiba.

"I want to hear it, too," Tenten frowned.

"Sakura?" asked Ino. "It's really your story."

"Why are you guys still here?" Naruto demanded from the kitchen. "Shut up and get out! You have outstayed your welcome!"

Sakura laughed and waved them toward the door. "Let's walk together. I'll tell you all about it. Then the next one of us who is alone with Sasuke can tell him."

"None of you are ever going to be alone with him if I have anything to say about it! I hate you all!" He stumbled when Akamaru squeezed past him with a low whine. "I wasn't counting you, Akamaru. I still like you."

"Only because Sasuke can't understand him," Kiba snorted. He waved at Sasuke and then grabbed Ino's tray.

"Later, Sasuke," Sakura smiled.

"It was nice meeting you," Ino added.

"Lee is going to run you ragged," Tenten said cheerfully. "Enjoy that."

Naruto shut the door behind them. "I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it. I can't believe them. And it was going so good, too."

"Your reactions egged them on," Sasuke pointed out. "You have no one to blame but yourself."

"Thanks. Your sympathy means the world to me." Naruto sulked his way into the kitchen, where he puttered around the sink without accomplishing much.

Sasuke saw Chouji loaded up on and his way. Then he cleaned up around the downtrodden Naruto. When he dumped some dishes in the sink Naruto did, in fact, start washing them. But he was silent and pouting and ridiculous. Sasuke waited until the kitchen was clean before intervening. He caught Naruto by the shoulder and marched him back into the livingroom. He pressed him down on the couch and sat beside him.

"Are you really that embarrassed or are you hoping I won't say anything about this training you haven't gotten around to telling me about yet?" He smirked when Naruto gaped at him. "I might be behind in 'learning you' but you're making it very easy at the moment."

"They weren't supposed to bring that up," Naruto sighed. "I wanted to ease you into the idea. But we can't do it right now, anyway, so I figured there was no rush. Now you're probably confused and suspicious and who knows what else. I told them this was just a little get together, hang out, maybe chat a bit and that's it. I don't know why Kiba had to go and bring that up. And then embarrassing me, like they just had to go and rub it in. Who needs enemies with friends like that? I knew this was a bad idea."

"Just tell me," Sasuke said flatly. He wasn't going to be diverted.

Naruto sighed again and folded his arms over his chest. "When I tap into Kyuubi's chakra enough, I get tails. It's a thing that happens to people who host a demon. Ero-sennin calls mine a youko cloak because Kyuubi is a youko, a demon fox. It's basically a covering of Kyuubi's chakra and the strength of it depends on the number of tails that manifest. Kyuubi has nine tails so technically I could get up to nine. But I max out at three. If I try to go up to four I lose control and attack anyone nearby. I have only done that once, but I almost killed Ero-sennin. I don't even remember it. He says I basically turned into a mini Kyuubi. But Kyuubi says he wasn't in control at the time, either, and that it was just our combined instincts taking out anyone nearby who might pose a threat. I don't think he was lying, but he could be. I haven't risked it since. I can't even risk going to one tail without someone nearby armed with one of Jiraiya's seals. But Jiraiya doesn't want me using Kyuubi's chakra at all, so he doesn't like making those seals for me. He wants me to learn sage mode. That's a toad thing he and my dad use. It's really powerful and I'd like to learn it. But Kyuubi is already inside me. He always has been and always will be. If I can figure out how to work with him and do the sage thing, that would be great. But if I have to pick one, it's Kyuubi. It has to be. Unless I figure out how to control that I'll always be at risk of losing control. It isn't even a matter of just chosing not to use him. If I'm close to death there is no choice. He takes over and saves us both. And then he does whatever he wants until my body gives out or someone takes us out. My dad and I have been butting heads about this for ages. Jiraiya wants me to learn sage mode so I won't need to use Kyuubi. My dad thinks learning sage mode might even help me with Kyuubi. But learning that involves staying on the mountain where Gamabunta lives. Some people are there for years and still fail. I can't go there for years. Anything could happen while I'm gone. And then there's you."

"Your obsession with me."

"Yeah. Even after I found out where you were, I couldn't stand the thought of going away for that long. Now that you're here, there's no way I would go unless I could take you with me. And there's no reason to focus on that anyway, when this is my best chance to work on Kyuubi. He says the sharingan can shut us down no matter how many tails I'm manifesting, at least long enough to override those instincts to kill anyone nearby."

"The demon told you that?"

Naruto gave a grimacing smile. "Right? That's the problem. It's too suspicious. He hates shinobi for locking him up. He especially hates the mangekyou sharingan for controlling him so he got locked up again instead of getting a chance to escape. So what is he thinking? That I'll go into tail mode trusting that you'll be able to stop it and then he'll get to break the seal and take over because only the mangekyou sharingan can actually stop him and you don't have that? I can't risk taking his word for it. We won't know if your sharingan can control his energy enough to snap me back to myself without actually trying it, and we can't do that without a backup plan in case it doesn't work. I figured that would mean having Jiraiya supervise, but he's still being really stubborn about me using Kyuubi. He definitely doesn't like the idea of me inviting you to use your sharingan directly on Kyuubi. He would help if he had to, but my dad doesn't want to pressure him when he's that opposed to it. Thats where Kakashi's friend comes in. Wood release. The first hokage had that and used it to control the tailed beasts. But we don't know if it will actually work on me since my demon is already sealed. Once again, we won't know till we try and we can't risk just trying without taking lots of precautions. So it's back to the waiting and, yeah, I really didn't see any point bringing this all up right now."

"You brought it up with your friends," Sasuke noted.

"They know I have been fighting to train with Kyuubi instead of going the toad route. I never actually told them I was going to ask you to help me with my training, but they all assumed I would because of the whole sharingan-Kyuubi thing. I really thought I had reassured them about that. I'm not going to take chances with you. I certainly wouldn't do it here in the village where I could end up on a rampage if I get past you. I'm not that reckless. They should know that by now."

"Do they understand the risks?"

"Maybe not," Naruto frowned. "They've never seen me with more than one tail. I told them what I did to Ero-sennin. Sakura has seen the scar, so she knows how bad it was. But maybe they don't understand how strong he is, and how strong I had to have been to do that to him. They just know how impatient I have been to try doing things my own way, working with Kyuubi, so they figured I would jump on the chance to take advantage of you being here. And I will, if you're willing to help me out," he smiled, "just as soon as I finish helping you and we figure out a way to test your eyes against Kyuubi safely. Your training comes first. Don't worry about that."

Testing his sharingan against a demon would be training in itself. The idea was still disturbing. If this was a trick the demon was playing and things went badly, would he and the clan be held responsible? He couldn't risk that. He would have to talk with the Hokage about this before he even considered 'helping' Naruto.

"Are you mad that I didn't talk to you about this sooner?"

"No." He was irritated to know that they wouldn't be talking about it now if Naruto's friends hadn't brought it up. He shouldn't have been put on the spot like that. But he could see why Naruto had been content to leave it for later. It was all very theoretical for the moment. He stood up. "I'm going to take a shower. Will you be sleeping on the couch again?"

Naruto blushed and squirmed. "I'll go to bed, but I might not stay there."

Sasuke didn't bother arguing with him. He had a lot to think about. He would be getting up in a few hours and didn't want to be sore as well as cranky. And he now knew far too much about Naruto's bowels to even consider topping him. He was smirking by the time he reached the bathroom, but he didn't laugh until the water was running loudly enough to muffle the sound.

.-.  
TBC


End file.
